Normal is Overrated
by Camiiilllee
Summary: She had been on the run for so long that she couldn't remember what it felt like to have a home. When told that her terrifying powers are the only thing that can save her from a fugitive life, Thea is forced to stop lying to herself and face who she truly is. This story is set after the Apocalypse movie.
1. Time's up

**A/N:** Please note that  English is not my first language! I apologize in advance if you find grammatical mistakes (which you most probably will). This is my first time writing a story in English, and my first time writing a fanfic. Lots of firsts!

About the story: After watching Apocalypse, I thought Quicksilver had the potential to be a very interesting and complex character, so I decided to give him an important part in this story. I like giving my characters a rich background so it will take a couple chapters before getting into the mutant madness. Bear with me, and most importantly enjoy!

* * *

She found the flames dancing in front of her to be hypnotizing, mesmerizing even. She was standing so close to the blaze that the smell of burning hair was already tickling her nostrils. No matter. The heat was drying the tears that were silently running down her porcelain cheeks. Behind her were muffled sounds, screams, sirens, agitation. A powerful gush of water was raining down on the flaming building. Suddenly, a cold little hand pulled her out of her trance, removing her from the fire a couple steps back. Still holding her hand, the frail silhouette took a few moments to watch the scene beside her then sighed.

"I'll go pack our things."

 **...**

"We're fine. Ellie is a little shaken obviously, but we'll live. We always do."

The man sitting in front of her wouldn't meet her eyes. A rush of love and guilt seized her stomach as he was pensively running his finger on the edge of his glass of beer. Fighting the urge to hug him, she looked around. She loved this café. The burgundy seats and the dark wooden floor gave a nice and soothing ambience to the place. It made her feel safe. That's where she had met Alex.

Alex was a guitar player. Not the sweet yet gloomy acoustic guitar player that serenades you on a beach kind. The hard core electric guitar ACDC and Rolling Stones tee-shirts kind. He and his band were playing on a Saturday night in this very café. The songs they were playing were pretty soft for rock songs, but Alex had spent the whole night banging his head and adding unnecessary loud and passionate back-up vocals, living a whole other concert on his own. She couldn't remember the last time she had laughed this much. At the end of the concert, as the audience was surging on the stage to get the charismatic lead singer or bassist autographs, she approached Alex who had gone on a dark corner behind the stage.

He was putting away his guitar and wiping his sweaty face with the bottom of his tee-shirt revealing a soft belly, unaware of her presence. He was wearing large jeans and a pair of used black sneakers of which laces were undone.

"I liked your concert."

He jumped, hitting his head on the top of the box he was putting his guitar in.

"Jeez", he sighed rubbing is messy brown hair. "You scared the hell outta me."

His bright green eyes scanned her. His round face was softened by a short stubble.

"The rest of the band is still on stage, if you want an autograph. They'll probably be leaving shortly though."

"Are you calling me a groupie, mister?"

She laughed at the look of surprise on his face.

"No I- I just thought you…" he mumbled.

"I said I liked _your_ concert, not theirs."

He frowned, definitely confused.

"Why do you play with them? They're clearly not letting you express who you really are on stage. They're muzzling you."

"They're ok…" he said, lacking conviction.

They turned to watch the lead singer run his hand in his long blond hair, showing off his perfect body highlighted by an awful black leatherette costume. He was signing a lady's cleavage.

"Ok" he scoffed. "They're assholes. But believe it or not, being a guitar player doesn't pay that much in L.A. Gotta pay the bills".

She nodded.

"I get that. I'm just saying there's something in you, an energy I've never seen before. I'd hate to see it go to waste."

He squinted.

"What did you say your name was? Right now I'm referring to you as hot-girl-giving-me-life-advice. Not very poetic."

They laughed.

"Thea" she said with a lovely smile that he mirrored back. He grabbed the delicate hand reaching out.

"That's much better. I'm Alex."

The glasses on the table were starting to shake, spilling a little beer on the table.

"Thea? Still with me?"

She blinked. The glasses were still again.

"Sorry, I was… sorry. You were saying?"

"I said Ellie seems to be really thriving here. She's got her friends, her school –well, before it burnt down-, the apartment, and…"

He shook his head, unable to finish his sentence.

"You" Thea finished as her voice was cracking. "She's got you. I know we've been really good the three of us, but I warned you Alex. A year ago, when we started dating, I told you that we weren't going to stay here forever."

She angrily tore apart a piece of paper on the table.

"I knew I was going to break your heart" she whispered so softly that Alex barely heard her.

"Hey". He put his warm hands on hers, ending the poor piece of paper's torment. "This is not your fault, I knew what I was in for. It's just… after all this time I was starting to believe I could actually make you stay."

"This isn't about you, Alex. Trust me when I say if I could, I would stay here with you. I'm so sorry."

He sighed, powerless against the deep sorrow he saw in her turquoise eyes. There was this dark, scary part of her that he could never understand, but somehow learned to live with. Whenever he would ask about her past, she would freeze, or change the subject. Everyone has their own secrets, but hers seemed way too heavy for her to carry around. And then there was this weird… empathy she had, as if she always knew how everybody around her was feeling. It was unsettling at first, but then he grew very fond of the way she would always seem to understand him, always knowing what to say or what to do when he was feeling down.

All his life, Alex had been told that he wasn't good enough, that his dreams were weak and foolish. He was the chubby, loser kid. But Thea saw past that. She saw the passion and fire inside of him and she didn't try to make him change. For the first time in his life, Alex had felt loved -truly loved- for who he is, not for who they wanted him to be.

She was amazing. He loved her. And he had to let her go.

"This doesn't have to be goodbyes" he said quietly. "You're moving to New York, you're not leaving for another planet. We don't have to disappear from each other's lives."

She had a sad smile. She knew he was wrong. She _had_ to disappear for his own good. She had to break his heart.

And no matter what he said, it was all her fault.

* * *

 **A/N:** Please don't hesitate to leave a review! I'd be more than happy to correct my mistakes if you point them out.


	2. Ignorance is Bliss

**A/N:** I had to throw a few French dialogues in there. I'm sorry. (But not really.) I put the translation in **bold** so that it'll be easier for you to find. Enjoy!

* * *

She walked back home. Well, what used to be her home. A small apartment that Ellie and she managed to make comfortable after weeks of redecorating and painting. She quietly knocked on the door at the end of the small hallway.

"Ellie?"

"Come in" said a muffled voice inside.

Thea walked into her room. The little girl was sitting on her single bed, a couple of boxes still opened on the floor, filled with her belongings. A whole year that she managed to put in boxes.

The little girl was holding a picture in her hands. It was her, still a baby. Thea was holding her in her arms. A tall strong man with short brown hair was putting a solid arm on her shoulder, and holding a frail blonde woman in the other.

"Je ne savais pas que tu avais cette photo". **(I didn't know you had that picture)** Thea said with a smile as she sat next to Ellie. "C'est le jour où maman et papa t'ont adoptée. Je ne me souviens pas les avoir connu si heureux. " **(That's the day mom and dad adopted you. I think it's the happiest I had ever seen them.)**

"Tu avais quel âge?" **(How old were you?)**

"J'avais 18 ans. J'étais tellement excitée! J'avais toujours voulu avoir une petite sœur, et te voilà. Un cadeau tombé du ciel. Je n'arrive pas à croire que c'était i ans déjà. J'ai l'impression que c'était une autre vie " **(I was 18. I was so excited! I had always wanted a little sister and then you arrived. A gift from the sky. I can't believe this was already 8 years ago. Seems like a lifetime ago.)**

"Je sais. Ça l'était pour moi, littéralement." **(I know. It literally was, for me anyway).**

They shared a knowing laugh. Then Ellie's dark eyes saddened.

"I don't remember much about France. About them."

Thea knew Ellie preferred talking in English, especially when she was upset. It came more naturally to her, which made Thea's heart tighten every time. She loved her mother tongue so much. She wanted Ellie to share that love, to have those beautiful memories of the Loire's proud chateaus and landscapes. But she couldn't blame her. They had both left France when Ellie was 3. Sometimes, Thea herself felt like those memories were fading away, leaving a blurry image in her mind like an old movie you watched a long time ago. She even had to change her own first name. The correct spelling was "Théa", but it had caused too many questions concerning her origins, her past. Something she was trying really hard to keep buried. So Thea it was.

"I know sweetie. I wish you would. They loved you so very much."

She brought her closer to her, the little girl's head resting on her shoulder. She felt a warm liquid wet her white shirt.

"I'm so sorry to put you through this again Ellie" she whispered, fighting the tears that were threatening to flow. She had to be strong for her. "Sometimes I honestly think that you would be better off without me. You would have a normal life, without all the drama and the moving and the pain… you deserve so much better."

The little girl raised her red eyes to meet her sister's.

"I know you're doing everything you can, and that's enough for me. You've been the best sister I could have hoped for. I love you."

Thea could feel her sister's love flowing in her veins like warm silk. She ran her hand through her short black hair.

"I love you too baby girl. We'll have a normal life very soon, I promise."

Thea truly believed it. But she had no idea how wrong she was.

 **...**

"Home sweet home!" Claimed Thea, a little too enthusiastic to sound genuine.

She pushed the door to enter their new apartment. It was a large and luminous loft, with light wooden floor, a nice open kitchen and a blue navy and burgundy themed decoration. It had a large mezzanine with too single beds separated by a wooden screen.

Ellie jumped on her bed, actually looking excited.

"It's not that bad" she said, looking out her window where she could almost see Central Park. "How did we get such a nice apartment with your laboratory technician salary again?"

"I'm an engineer in Biotechnology, you little brat. And the guy renting us this place is one of dad's old colleagues."

"I thought we were avoiding everything related to our past?"

Thea sighed and crashed on her sister's bed, suddenly feeling exhausted. She didn't want to share everything she knew with her sister because it was a lot to take, but she didn't know how to lie to her either. She decided that being honest with her could keep her from doing some snooping around on her own and get in a lot of trouble.

"We are. But this guy has a job for me. And it could even help us understand what happened to mom and dad."

Ellie sat up straight, her eyes widening.

"Really? How?"

"He is offering to let me continue mom and dad's research."

Ellie raised an eyebrow.

"You mean that boring stuff we found in dad's belongings, about DNA and what not?"

"It wasn't just a bunch of sciency stuff Ellie, he was working on biologically induced mutations. There were making some extraordinary progress, especially with the help of a few gifted people."

"Mutants?"

"Yes."

Her little sister's fear felt a metallic taste on Thea's tongue. It had only been a few weeks since the attack of this weird blue guy. Half the city had been destroyed by an equally weird guy in a helmet. Ellie had still nightmares about this day that would keep her up all night. And although she would never admit it, so did Thea. But not because she was scared it could happen again. Because she knew she was one of _them._

The little girl remained silent for a while. Her dark and soft skin seemed paler.

"Thea" she finally said, "are you going to have to use your powers too?"

The blonde girl sighed and closed her eyes.

"I don't know sweetie. I don't want to, I mean we're here because I couldn't control them last time. But I need to find out what happened to mom and dad. I _have_ to."

Ellie looked pensive.

"I think you should try. You could kick the bad mutants' ass with your powers."

"Miss Elisabeth Lapelluys! You are 9, you're not supposed to say ass. Anyway, that invention that our parents were working on can be extremely dangerous if in the hands of someone with not so good intentions. I'm guessing it would have something to do with their disappearance."

"Is that what the people who are after us want? Mom and dad's invention?"

"Probably. All the more reasons for me to finish what they started before _they_ do, whoever they are."

 **...**

"That can't be good."

"Indeed, my child."

The old scientist was looking at a pile of old files scattered on a desk over her shoulder. Thea had gone to the lab her dad used to work in as soon as she could. The sun was barely out when she had silently left her apartment. She had hired a nanny to take Ellie to school and bring her back home. She hated herself for missing her first day in her new school, but there was nothing else she could do.

And there she was, standing in the very room her parents used to roam, discuss and work. It was a large room separated in two by a large bay window. On one side were a massive desk and a tall cabinet, both filled with dozens, if not hundreds of files. On the other side was a laboratory, with large benches covered with flasks, microscopes and dozens of other equipments. Both sides were dusty and messy, as if they had been left in a hurry. It was chilling, that feeling that a part of them was still here, stuck for as long as their work was unfinished. She ignored the thrill that ran up her spine.

No one had entered that room since Thea's parents had left it. Robert, the old scientist who offered her the job, explained that everyone in the facility was too scared to even go near it. In fact, a few weeks before disappearing, Marie and Pascal had been acting weird, paranoid and aggressive. Their work had clearly put them in some sort of danger, although they had always refused to discuss it with Robert. The day they had vanished, Robert had heard screams and struggling coming from their office. When he had burst into the room, they were gone.

The document she was looking at was hand-written. She could make out most of it, but part of it was covered in blood. Hence her previous observation. It was some sort of recipe to make a complex molecule that could apparently modify a target gene. But something was missing. Next to the drawing of the molecule, Pascal had drawn some kind of lock. Underneath it was a key, and a name that had been underlined several times.

 _Thea_ _._

The young women tried to even her breathing.

"What does that mean?" she asked with a trembling voice.

"I wish I could tell you" answered the old man while shaking his head.

Both of them stared at the paper, hoping for it to start speaking on its own.

"Why did you call me? Why now? Not too long ago I didn't even know my parents were working on this."

Robert sighed and slowly sat down on an old chair.

"I think they were trying to keep you and Ellie away from all this. You were already 21 when they moved in America, but you were still their little girl. And Ellie was a child. They were trying to protect you. I wanted to respect that, but lately some of their work has resurfaced."

"What do you mean?"

"Some people have been asking questions. A couple of agents from the CIA asked me to show them these very files."

"The CIA? What on earth could they possibly want with this?"

"I'm not sure. All I know is that put in the wrong hands, what they were creating could end up in chaos."

Thea exhaled, worried.

"Did you give them the files?"

"No, it's all here. I told them they disappeared with your parents. They have no right to search this building without a warrant. But since the latest attacks on New York and the rest of the world, things are moving fast. Things are changing, and not for the better I'm afraid. That's why I called you. Even when you were younger, you were already a brilliant scientist. If someone is able to finish your parents' work, it's you."

A light smile appeared on his face.

"Although I had to move heaven and earth to find you. You did a good job running away and protecting Ellie."

"Not good enough" she answered with a sad smile.

Robert gently tapped her shoulder.

"I'm sorry to burden you with all this."

"It's ok. I have to get to the bottom of this."

He nodded and silently left the room, closing the door behind him. Thea sighed and leaned back in her chair. She pensively wiggled her hands in front of her as a red glow appeared on the tip of her fingers.

"Maybe you won't be so useless after all" she whispered.


	3. Good is a Matter of Perspective

Something was wrong.

It was night already. Thea was walking back home from her lab, exhausted, barely walking straight. She had spent all day going through her parents' papers, but she couldn't make sense of it. It was like she was missing the one thread tying all the information she had together. It was driving her crazy. She had even forgotten to eat.

The only thought keeping her sane was coming home to her little sister. Ellie's nanny had picked her up from school earlier this afternoon and Thea couldn't wait to hear how her first day in her new school went.

As she was crossing a street, she tripped over the sidewalk. And that's when she saw it. A quick flash of light ten feet in front of her, so fast that for a second she thought she'd imagined it. But she couldn't ignore the oppressive feeling that someone was watching her. Her heart started beating fast. Too fast. The lights around her flickered. _Calm down Thea. For the love of God, calm down._ If she made a scene in the middle of the street, she and Ellie might as well pack their things the same night. Besides, if someone really was following her, she needed to stay cool and not alarm them.

The rush of adrenaline had completely woken her up. She quickly made it back to her apartment and sighed in relief when she arrived safe and locked the door behind her. However, while closing it, she suddenly shivered, feeling goose bumps on her skin, as if something had just touched her.

"Ellie? Get down here, I need to talk to you! Something… weird just happened."

Silence answered her.

"Ellie?"

 _Oh no._ She feverishly grabbed her cell phone while moving towards the mezzanine. From where she was standing, she couldn't see if Ellie was there or not. But before she could do anything, a soft voice echoed inside her head.

" _Calm down Thea. We are not here to hurt you."_

She let out a cry of surprise. Her phone escaped her hands and fell on the floor. And there it was again, that white strike of lightning, right in front of her. Before she could even think about doing anything, her instincts took over. She felt a rush of blood in her temples. A large kitchen knife arose from the worktop and flew across the room before suddenly stopping.

Time froze.

She was heavily breathing. Behind the knife she had just moved was standing a young man, dressed with black shirt and pants and a silver jacket. His hair had a weird white-silverish color. He was staring at her with wide dark eyes, not with fear, but surprise.

"I don't care how fast you are" she said with a dangerously calm voice. "You move a muscle and I'll slit your throat without even thinking about it."

She wasn't lying. She didn't even know how or when she decided to move the knife.

"Where is Ellie?" she asked as the young man wasn't saying anything.

" _She is fine, I promise you. Please put the knife down._ "

It was that voice again. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Yeah, no, she's not a big fan of the telepathic thing Professor" the white-haired guy finally said guy between his teeth with a grimace of pain, as a thin streak of blood was slowly running down his throat. "Cut this crap and come over here."

A couple seconds later, her door opened. She was certain she had locked it. A bald man in a wheel chair came in, followed by a beautiful blonde women and a tall man wearing glasses.

"Ok" Thea said with a trembling voice. "Who the hell are you people and what are you doing in my apartment?"

"I am Professor Charles Xavier" the man in the wheel chair replied with a strong British accent. "And this is Hank, Raven and Peter".

"Nice" the women whose name was apparently Raven said, nodding towards Peter. "I didn't know there were people who are actually faster than this guy on this planet."

"What do you want?" Thea asked, ignoring the blonde woman.

"Right now, I would love for you to put the knife down" Charles answered, his calm blue eyes staring at her. "We are all a little on edge."

"A little?" Thea repeated with a sarcastic chuckle. "Tell me where my sister is and _maybe_ I'll consider not killing this guy."

Peter was already opening his mouth to complain but Charles suddenly squinted and put two fingers on his temple.

" _She is upstairs, sleeping. Look."_

She wasn't quite sure how, but she saw Ellie, peacefully sleeping on her bed. She felt a heavy weight leave her stomach. At the same time, the knife fell on the floor with a loud metallic ringing, making everyone in the room jump, including Thea. Peter sighed, carefully rubbing his throat.

"Man, what was that all about? You didn't tell me she'd be armed," the young man said, casually walking towards Charles and the rest of the group before folding his arms.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?" Thea asked before they could say anything.

"We need your help" Charles simply said.

"You couldn't email me or something?" Thea mumbled.

The Professor had a thin smile.

"You are not an easy person to find, Thea."

"Yeah, that's kind of the point. You know, the moving and all? It's to avoid being found by people like you."

"That is not what I meant, but there is that too."

Thea frowned, intrigued.

"So what exactly do you need me for?"

"I would rather not discuss that here. If you could follow us to our facilities, I cou-"

"Nope. No way. I am not following you anywhere."

"Come on" Peter sighed, exasperated. "Didn't you see us on TV? We're the good guys. We basically saved the world."

"So you kicked another mutant's ass. Doesn't make you the good guys. From my point of view, you're only the least bad guys. Aren't you buddies with the man who destroyed half the city? The mutant with the funky helmet?"

Silence. Peter's eyes suddenly turned dark and he leaned back on the wall without a word. Hank, who had stayed silent until then, awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Our history with Erik is… complicated to say the least. Please, give us a chance to explain ourselves. I assure you our intentions are honorable."

"Really? Is that why you broke into my place?"

They looked at each other, clearly embarrassed. Except for Peter, who was sulking and clearly not paying attention to what was happening anymore.

"I was really hoping I wouldn't have to do that" Charles said, putting his fingers against his head again. "But you are giving me no choice."

Thea braced herself, unsure of what was about to happen.

But nothing did. The five of them spent a few moments staring at each other.

"Hum, Charles?" Raven finally asked.

"I'm not surprised," the Professor answered with a light smile. "So powerful already, and she doesn't even know it."

"Ok that's it" Thea said, tired of all this, picking up her phone that was still on the ground. "I'm calling the cops. Breaking and entering, stalking… that's enough to have you all arres-"

A loud _BOING_ kept her from finishing her sentence. She blinked a couple times, surprised to feel a strike of pain in the back of her head. And then she fell into nothingness.

Behind her, Peter was standing with a frying pan in one hand and a smirk on his face. He had enough time to go put the utensil down and be back next to Thea to break her fall. He carried the unconscious young women in his arms as if she weighed nothing.

The others were staring at him, speechless.

"Peter!" Hank finally cried. "What the-"

"You said we had to bring her back no matter what," the young mutant said with a shrug. "This is my definition of "no matter what"."

Charles was slowly rubbing his forehead, eyes closed.

"That is _not_ what I- Never mind. It is done now. Hank, Raven, go get her sister. We are leaving."

And so they left as fast as they came in, leaving a silent and empty apartment behind them.


	4. Another World

**A/N:** thank you for all the follows and favs everyone, it means a lot! Here's another chapter, this one is a little longer but some people had some explaining to do...

* * *

She woke up to a very annoying sound. It was a muffled and strangely familiar melody, punctuated by weird sound effects. The young woman groaned at the stabbing pain radiating in the back of her skull. She felt nauseous. Slowly, very slowly, she began to open her eyes. She was resting on a comfortable single bed with long white canopies that were lightly flowing. She cautiously sat up, pushing the curtains aside. She apparently was in an infirmary. There were a dozen other beds in the white tiled room. On the one next to hers, Peter was lying down, legs crossed, playing on a Gameboy. _Mario._ That's the melody she had recognized.

"Sup" he mumbled without taking his eyes off his game.

There were too many questions hustling in her brain. Where was she? How long had she been here? Where was Ellie? What was this guy doing here? But looking at the mutant next to her, one thought popped up in her mind.

"You knocked me out… with a frying pan!" she cried, more outraged by the second part than the first.

Peter had a loud and quick laugh burst, apparently very proud of himself.

"Yeah. Fun times. To be fair, you almost beheaded me with a kitchen knife, so I say I went easy on you."

At this very moment, she regretted not actually doing it, just to wipe this smirk off his face.

"I want to see Ellie."

"She'll be there with the Professor any minute," he answered, his eyes still glued to his console. "You know, it's pretty exhausting following you around. I usually spend most of my days watching stupid stuff on TV and playing video games in my basement."

"So I see," she mumbled.

"All this walking and working… I don't know how you do it," he added in a monotone voice.

"How long have you been following me, exactly?" she asked, trying her best not to jump on the young man and strangle him. His casualness was infuriating.

"A couple days. Since you moved out of LA."

"Why did they send you?"

"Have you met me? I'm pretty good at going unnoticed."

"No, I mean why would you need to follow me?"

"Xavier has been looking for you. For some reason he couldn't find you with Cerebro. So he sent me. I gotta say, you made my task a whole lot easier by setting this building on fire. It was like a giant "FIND ME HERE" sign."

"I didn't mean to," she whispered. "What's Cerebro?"

"Err, not sure, actually. Some kind of machine he uses to locate people, mutants. Apparently, you didn't pop out. Not clearly enough anyway."

"Why not?"

He shrugged.

"You tell me."

They stopped talking for a few seconds. Then, for the first time, he looked at her and sat up, facing her.

"What happened at that school?"

She felt a flaming shame mixed with rage rising through her. She was opening her mouth to answer when a WHOOSH interrupted her. She let out a first cry of surprise as a few people magically appeared in front of her bed, and a second one when she realized one of them was _blue._ With 3 fingers on each hand. And a tail. She precipitately backed up against the wall, knocking over the night stand behind her and everything on it.

"I'm so sorry," the blue guy said with a strong German accent. "Did I startle you?"

"Obviously," Peter mumbled while picking up the lamp that had fallen over. "You need to stop doing that bro."

When she realized the weird guy was not a threat, Thea started breathing again. The young blue man waved a three-fingered hand at her and she had a hesitant smile in return. Then she saw Ellie, Charles, Hank and Raven behind him. Smiling, she ran to her. Well, walked very fast. She was still feeling dizzy.

"Are you ok?" she said while hugging her tight.

"Yes," the little girl said back. "I played hide and seek with Kurt. He always wins." she added with a cute laugh.

"So she's your sister" Peter said. "How does that work? Same dad or mom?"

Thea guessed his was talking about their different skin colors.

"Neither. She was adopted" Thea answered while carefully sitting back on the bed. Ellie sat on her lap.

"Thea" Charles said, interrupting their conversation. "We have a lot to talk about. I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

"Oh yes."

"First of all, I would like to apologize for the way you were brought here," he said, glaring at Peter. "It was not supposed to go like this. We are your allies, you have to believe that."

Thea didn't say anything, still upset about this whole situation and anxiously waiting for what was about to follow.

"Look, there is a good reason we brought you here, and there is really no easy way to put this. We worked with your parents, Thea. All their research on induced mutations, we were a part of it. And we think you are the key to finishing it."

She felt like a huge bolder had landed on her stomach. She tried to swallow but her throat was too tight. She was glad to be already sitting down since she felt her knees shaking.

"Ellie honey, why don't you go play with Kurt some more huh?" she said with a weak voice. "We've got some grown up talking to do."

The little girl who was playing with one of Thea's blonde curls looked worried but she nodded without a word. A few seconds later, she disappeared in a WHOOSH with the blue mutant.

"Tell me the truth. Are you responsible for my parents' disappearing?"

"In a way, I am," he answered, a world of regrets in his eyes. "But I'm not the one who took them. I might know who did."

"What do you mean, _took them_? Are they still alive?"

The room fell completely silent. She looked for an answer in everyone's eyes, but the mutants suddenly found the floor to be very interesting. Even loudmouth Peter was avoiding her stare.

"I can't tell you for sure," Charles finally said.

She felt a torrent of tears threatening to burst out. But she couldn't give in to fear and sorrow. She took a deep, shaky breath.

"Who took them?"

"We believe a man named Stryker to be involved with this. His father worked with the CIA. They both made their loathing for mutants quite clear. This man would do anything to wipe out mutants from this planet, and your parents' invention might just do the trick."

"This Stryker guy, who is he exactly? How do you know he's involved?"

"He's an asshole," said Raven with a fit of rage. "A monster obsessed with power. He uses his connections with the CIA and the US army to get what he wants. And trust me when I say what he wants can never be good for us."

The 3 others nodded, a dark shadow on their faces.

"A few weeks ago," Peter continued, "Stryker was nice enough to take Hank, Raven and me to his little hiding spot. We eventually got the hell out of there but I managed to grab a couple things before leaving," he smirked. "Villains rule number one: Do not bring a kleptomaniac into your super-secret lab."

"Turns out Stryker was onto something big," Hank said, a worried look on his face. "These papers Peter brought back were about a substance that could induce mutations," He paused. "Your parents' names were all over them. Somehow, he stole their research."

Thea's head was spinning. Could she trust these people? Probably not, but they seemed like the lesser of two evils.

"Ok," she calmly said. "But where do I come in? How can I be of any help? Besides resuming my parents' research –which, by the way, I'm already doing- what could I do to stop this guy?"

Charles stared at her.

"There was another name on those papers. Yours."

She remembered what she had found with Robert a few hours earlier. The drawings. The key.

"I don't know anything more than you do. Not yet anyway," she whispered.

"It isn't about what you know. It is about who you are."

"I'm… not sure I'm following."

He came closer to her.

"What exactly are your powers, Thea?"

"I don't really know. I've never really used them on purpose."

"Well, whatever it is, we have good reasons to believe that this… aura inside you is the key to finalize your parents' work."

Confused, she raised her eyes to meet Hank's, who she thought to be the scientist of the group.

"From what I was able to understand," he said, "this molecule they synthesized can interact with the proteins involved with DNA replication and target a particular gene. But it can only be activated with a very specific wave length."

He paused.

"I believe this kind of energy could come from… you."

"How is that even possible?" she asked without really expecting an answer.

Charles gave her a few seconds to comprehend all this information.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way. But we are running out of time. Stryker probably already knows we are onto him. And if we managed to find you, then so can he. That is why we are offering you a place here, at our School for Gifted Youngsters. We could help you understand and control your abilities while ensuring you and your sister's safety."

Thea observed the four mutants, worried. They were looking back at her, their eyes filled with hope. She could literally feel their minds racing, anxiously waiting for her answer. She didn't want to stay. She didn't feel like she belonged here and she most definitely didn't feel safe. And what kind of life would that be for Ellie? On the other hand, the Professor was right. If this Stryker guy found her, she would be in deep trouble. She sighed, resigned.

"I want to know exactly what you know. No secrets. And trust me, I know when someone is lying to me. I want a fully equipped lab where I can resume my research. And I'll need to personally make sure Ellie will be getting the same education she would have had in a normal school."

Charles nodded with a thin smile.

"Welcome among us. Peter will show you around, and then you should get some rest. Your training will begin tomorrow."

"Great," Peter grumbled. "Now I'm babysitting."

"Play nice," Raven said on an irritated tone before leaving the room, to which Peter responded by mimicking her.

He stood next to the door with a "what-are-we-waiting-for" look. Thea crossed her arms and didn't move.

"You don't have to like me," she said harshly. "And quite frankly, I don't really care. But if your attitude gets in the way of what I'm here for, then we have a problem. Cause apparently, we are going to spend some time together, so we might as well settle things now."

He raised his hands in sign of surrender.

"Hey calm down little miss sunshine, you heard the boss. I'll play nice."

The estate was huge. It took them over half an hour just to visit the building. And they weren't even taking their time. In fact, Peter was only naming the countless rooms they had been passing by without giving any sort of details or explanation. At one point, she saw Ellie playing with a bunch of other kids. She realized with a heavy heart that the fact that she was normal made her the special kid here. And it wouldn't take long for the other children to figure that out. She promised herself to get this whole thing over with as fast as she could.

They finally arrived at the very top of the mansion. At the end of a long hallway, Peter pushed a large sculpted door to enter a spacious and luminous room. Wide and comfortable chairs and couches were arranged around a marble fireplace. There were countless completely full bookshelves, a TV and two computers.

"This is the common room. Only X-men are allowed in here. The two sets of stairs you see back there lead to their rooms. Girls on the right, boys on the left. Your room is up there as well."

"X-men? What is that?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Okay! I think we're done here. Thanks for not asking too many questions and making this less painful than it had to be. Have a good day."

Thea rolled her eyes and left the room after him. When he realized she was following him, he stopped and turned around.

"Er, what are you doing? Your room is the other way. I know I'm not the best tour guide but that's literally the last thing I showed you. Come on now."

She glared at him.

"I'm going back to my place. I need to pick up some stuff. You didn't exactly give me time to pack up before coming here."

"I don't think you're supposed to leave. Xavier might not be cool with that."

She rolled her eyes again and walked past him.

"What are we, 16? Besides, he doesn't have to know."

She felt a draught lifting her long hair and the young man was standing in front of her again, forcing her to stop.

"Nope. Can't let you do that, sorry."

She looked right at him. Her eyes turned from bright blue to bloody red. The paintings and furniture in the hallway started shaking.

"Jeez," he said while taking a step back. "There's no need to go all Wicked-Witch-of-the-West on me. Go, see if I care."

She had a mean smile and resumed walking. She heard Peter let out an annoyed noise.

"But I'm coming with you."

"Ugh, why?" she sighed without stopping.

"If anything happens to you, I'm as good as dead. I'm kind of supposed to look after you."

Great. She had been assigned the most annoying bodyguard they could find. However, after everything she had just learned, she was kind of relieved not having to go out there alone. Although she'd rather die than telling Peter that.

"Fine. Let's go."

* * *

 **A/N:** I hope you enjoyed, please don't hesitate to leave a review if you have some suggestions/wants/ideas for how the story should continue. Do you like the OC/Peter dynamic? Something tells me these too are going to spend a little more time together, whether they like it or not...


	5. It'll Pass

**A/N:** a short chapter, but it had to be separated! Some action and fluffiness are on the way.. until then, enjoy!

* * *

"We're taking the bus on the way back."

Thea was bent over, her right hand on the side of the building she had just moved in. Her eyes were shut and she kept swallowing to try not to throw up.

"It'll pass," Peter said without even trying to hide his laugh.

With Peter's abilities, it had only taken them a few seconds to get to Thea's place. But at what cost... He had held her neck to avoid whiplash and before she even had time to be scared, they had arrived here. Peter was eating a hot dog he had picked up on the way. She, on the other hand, was feeling like her stomach had been taken out of her body and put back upside down.

"Did you even pay for that?" she asked, pointing at his food.

Peter shrugged.

"Are we going in or what?"

Thea sucked it up and nodded. They entered the building and took the elevator to the 7th floor.

"Seriously though" Thea said, continuing the conversation they were having while going up. "You could have warned m-"

Peter grabbed her arm and put a finger on his lips. He pointed at her door. It was opened.

"Are you kidding me? You left my door opened when you left?" Thea said, outraged.

"No, we didn't," Peter simply answered, looking worried.

"Oh" Thea said, looking back at her door, just as worried now.

"I'm going to go take a look real quick."

"Wait!" Thea whispered, but he was already gone.

He was back half a second later.

"Well, there is definitely a dude in there but it's not Stryker. And I doubt he's one of his guys cause he's wearing a rad Queen tee-shirt."

Thea closed her eyes. She knew exactly who it was. How did he get here? She sighed and entered her apartment, ignoring Peter's warnings. She found herself face to face with the intruder.

"Alex?" she asked, confused.

The young man stared at her, looking surprised and relieved.

"Thea! I was so worried, where have you be-"

He stopped at the sight of Peter standing behind her.

"Who is this guy?" he asked, suspicious.

Thea felt a rush a panic seize her.

"Hum Alex, this is Peter, my huh… colleague?"

He stared at her looking hurt, definitely not convinced. A heavy silence ensued.

"Well this is awkward." Peter eventually said. "I'm gonna wait outside, let you guys figure out whatever this is."

"It's fine, you can stay." Alex said harshly. "At least now I understand why you were so eager to move in New York," he added on a bitter tone.

"Alex, this isn't what you think."

"What I think?" he asked with a sarcastic chuckle. "What I think is that you've never been honest with me."

"Alex, come on" she said softly. "You know me. I would never do something like that to you."

"That's my point, Thea, I _don't_ know you. I don't know anything about you. For God's Sake I don't even know your parents' name! You're smart, funny, generous and beautiful and for a while I've been fooling myself into thinking all that could make up for honesty. But it doesn't."

There were a million things Thea would have wanted to tell him. But she just stood there, crushed by pain.

"Why are you here?" she whispered.

"Ellie gave me your new address, even though I know you told her not to. I was worried about you two." He glared at Peter. "But I can see you're in good hands."

He angrily walked passed her. She didn't try to stop him. She closed her eyes to try and ease the pain of her breaking heart. She loved this man. Truly. And that's why she had to let him go. Even if it meant letting him think she was a lying, cheating bitch. At least it would help him move on.

"By the way, you door was unlocked. You should be more careful next time. You might end up with unwanted guests in your home." he added, glancing at Peter before slamming the door behind him.

"So we _did_ forget to lock it," the silver-haired young man mumbled. "My bad."

They didn't exchange one word after that. Thea gathered some of her stuff as well as some of Ellie's, her back facing Peter so he wouldn't see her tears, and they left. She didn't ask him to take the bus. She actually wanted to physically hurt. She felt awful for what she had done to Alex and it seemed like a fair retribution.

She found herself in front of her new room in a blink of an eye. She put a hand on the knob, hesitant. She finally turned to face Peter for the first time since Alex had left the apartment.

"Thanks for coming. And sorry you had to see all this… mess."

He had an awkward smile and waved his hand.

"It's ok. I know relationships suck. Why do you think I'm still single?"

She had a sad smile.

"Right. That's why."

He ignored her sarcasm.

"You should come downstairs and meet everyone" he said as he was about to leave. "They can't wait to meet the school's brand new prodigy."

She nodded and closed her door. The room was pretty comfortable. It had beige walls, light wooden furniture, a huge bed, a fireplace and a magnificent view of the impressive estate's gardens. She put her bags down, opened the window and let the cool wind caress her cheeks. The sun was high up in the blue sky. She couldn't believe it hadn't even been a day since Charles and the others showed up at her apartment. It seemed like an eternity ago. She took a deep breath. She had rarely felt this bad, but at least now she could completely focus on her goal. She looked around her room. She was about to get real busy. After all, she had a whole new life to discover.


	6. Meet

**A/N:** Time to meet the X-men! Thanks again for the favs and follows guys :)

* * *

She didn't want to be left alone with her dark thoughts, so she decided to take Peter's advice and go down to the common room. She could hear loud voices and laughs while going down the stairs. When she arrived in the room, everything fell silent.

There were a few people she didn't know; a tall guy with odd red glasses and two pretty young women: a redhead and one with white short hair and a skin as dark as Ellie's. Kurt and Peter were here as well.

She could feel their minds filled with questions like tiny needles on her skin.

"I didn't mean to interrupt," Thea said, breaking the silence.

The redhead, who was sitting on a couch next to the guy with the glasses, got up and had a gentle smile.

"It's ok Thea, we're really glad to finally meet you. I'm Jean, and this is Scott and Ororo. I think you already met Peter and Kurt."

"How's it going?" Scott asked before vigorously shaking her hand. "I look forward to training with you. I heard you could do all kinds of crazy stuff."

"Take it easy, Scott," Ororo sighed. "She barely got here." She turned to Thea and smiled. "Don't let him intimidate you. He's a hothead. Quite literally."

Thea didn't understand what she meant but the others laughed.

"So we're going to train together? What does that mean, exactly?" Thea asked, a little confused.

"Remember when I mentioned the X-men?" Peter said. "That's them. Well, that's us."

"And you're one of us now," Jean added with a wink.

The young woman felt Thea was confused, so she explained herself.

"The X-men are a group of mutants put together by Professor Xavier, Hank and Raven. We train here to protect the school, and basically the rest of the world from any danger. The Professor told us you'd be training with us, so you're part of the team now!"

Thea had a hesitant smile. It had been a while since she felt like she was part of anything.

They talked, shared, laughed and for the first time, Thea felt like she could really be herself. She didn't need to lie or hide the truth. It felt liberating. They all explained what their abilities were. Thea felt a little uncomfortable when she learned Jean could read her mind. The young woman probably felt it since she smiled at Thea and explained herself.

"I never do it against someone's will. I'll respect your privacy, don't worry."

"Except for that time you found out I was the one who ate all of your super expensive Belgian chocolate," Scott mumbled. "Man, I still have nightmares about this day. She triggered a storm worse than Ororo does on her bad days."

Thea laughed at the scene she was picturing. Suddenly, Peter's eyes widened and he stood up.

"Wait! Everybody stop what you're doing."

Thea's heart started beating fast.

"What?" she asked, looking around, searching for an incoming danger. "What is it?"

"She smiled!" he said, faking a sob, dropping on his knees and raising his arms to the sky. "A true, genuine smile! We are blessed, my friends!"

Thea's tense muscles relaxed and she sat back down, sighing.

" _Ha ha._ Very funny, smart ass."

He had a sly smile as the others were laughing. She tried to glare at him but she couldn't help smiling herself. It had been a while since she'd had a good reason to.

They spent the rest of the day showing her everything Peter didn't have the patience to show her in the morning: the huge library, the beautiful and endless gardens, the lake, the infrastructures where they could practice all kinds of sports and finally the danger room. She didn't particularly like this one.

As the sun was going down, they decided to order some pizza and invited Ellie to join them in the common room. Family was the only exception to the X-men-only rule. Thea was relieved to be able to spend some time with her.

"So I saw Alex today," she said when she found a moment alone with her as the others were fighting over what kind of pizza they should get. "It didn't go so well."

The little girl looked down.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I just miss him."

Thea sighed and held her sister against her.

"You little troublemaker. You will be the death of me someday. I know you miss him, I do too, but we can't do that to him. You know we have to let him go. He could be in grave danger if he stayed close to us. Close to me."

"So you're going to stay alone all your life? Because you're afraid of what might happen? That's not fair to you."

Thea's eyes widened.

"How old are you again?" she laughed. "You're too smart for you own good, missy."

She knew she was right, though. Her stare stopped on the group of mutants that were still arguing. Maybe she just had been looking in the wrong place…

Her thoughts were interrupted by a movement on the couch. Peter had just taken place next to Ellie.

"You guys will be the decisive vote. Pizza: with or without pineapple?"

"Both," Ellie answered. "I'm starving."

"This kid knows what's up," Peter said, pointing at the little girl. "Both it is."

Thea laughed and realized she was starving as well, given that she hadn't eaten anything for the whole day. As if it had heard her, her stomach started tumbling. She jumped on the food as fast as the others when it arrived.

"So, you didn't really tell us what your powers were, Thea," Scott tried to articulate despite taking a huge mouthful of pizza.

All eyes turned to her. She was going to dodge the question as she always used to, but she realized she had no point trying to hide it anymore. And maybe putting words on it would help her understand her odd abilities better. She straightened up in her seat and tried to focus on what she was feeling.

"Well… it's a little difficult to explain. It's like I can… _feel_ everything. I don't know what word would better describe it. I understand what everything is made of and how to control it. Even minds, though I've never tried to control one of those before," she added with a nervous laugh.

"You can read our minds?" Jean asked, surprised that she didn't mention that before.

"Not exactly. Each mind is like… a very specific melody to me. And each note is dictated by your emotions. I can tell how you feel, or if you're lying, thanks to the change in the melody."

She met Peter's eyes.

"Well, except for you."

He raised his eyebrows, confused.

"Your mind is a goddamn mess. Your thoughts are way too fast for me to get anything out of it."

"Tell me about it" Jean sighed. "Thank God Professor Xavier taught me how to shut people out, because this one used to give me a headache every time I was near him."

They all laughed at Peter's offended look.

"That's rude," she heard him mumble, which made her laugh even more.

After a couple hours, Thea felt the strain of her eventful last 24 hours hit her like a ton of bricks. She went to put Ellie to bed and when she came back, only the girls were left in the room.

"The guys went for a round in the danger room. A little taste of what awaits tomorrow" Ororo said. "It's like they can never get tired. It's exhausting."

Jean nodded and laughed.

"Are you nervous about tomorrow?" she asked.

"A little," Thea answered as she sat next to her. "I feel like the Professor is hoping for me to control my powers and save everyone like some kind of prophecy. Everyone will be so disappointed if I don't succeed. Not to mention it will give this Stryker guy a chance to get ahead of us. On the other hand, if I do manage to control my abilities, I'm scared of what I may be able to do with them. Either way, not really a pleasant prospect for me."

The girls nodded, understanding.

"I was nervous when I started too," Jean said. "My powers were this huge, scary thing I couldn't understand or control. Now they're a part of me. You have to start trusting our teachers. They're good. And they're good people too."

Thea gently smiled. She was really grateful to her two new friends for trying to reassure her, but she had this odd feeling that something was bound to go wrong. She really hoped to be wrong.


	7. And Greet

**A/N:** Two updates for today! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, I hope you like it as much as I do! :)

* * *

"Ouch," she moaned, even though it didn't really hurt.

She was sitting in a corner of the danger room. Hank was in a crouched position in front of her, applying a bandage on her knee. Behind him were standing the rest of the X-men, all trying their best not to laugh. Even the very charitable Kurt was biting his cheeks to hide his toothy smile.

"Sit still," Hank scolded her. "So explain to me what happened?"

Thea sighed, anticipating her fellow students' mockery.

"I was working on my levitation skills with Professor Xavier. I was supposed to go up a couple feet, for a start, but I couldn't do it. After an hour of trying, I got a _little_ upset. I guess getting pissed kick started my powers somehow cause I finally took off. Except instead of levitating a couple feet above the floor, I ended up hitting the ceiling. Like, really fast."

Thankfully, the floor and walls of the danger room were made of a cushioning material, precisely to avoid this kind of incident. However the fall could have been pretty bad since the gigantic room was at least 60 feet tall but despite her surprise, Thea had instinctively activated her powers to break her fall. But not enough to avoid a couple bruises and a scratched knee.

"I see," Hank said with a shaky voice as the young mutants behind him couldn't hide their hilarity any longer. He cleared his throat. "Well, at least now we know you can basically fly. Which is pretty cool, right?"

"I guess" Thea mumbled, starting to giggle as well now that the scare of the moment was gone. When she felt something was going to go wrong, that's not exactly what she had in mind.

"All right everyone, take five. Raven will be here any minute," Hank shouted, clapping his hands.

The little group slowly scattered. Thea decided that the floor was very comfortable after all and didn't move, her knee and back still aching. A draught moved her hair and when she turned her head, Peter was sitting next to her.

"Let me stop you right there" Thea said as Peter was already opening his mouth. "One more comment about what just happened and you'll be the one going through that roof."

He laughed and raised his hands in sign of peace.

"I was just going to say your landing wasn't _that_ catastrophic. You know, considering."

She laughed and bumped his shoulder.

"Jerk. I thought these were supposed to protect us anyway?" she said, pointing at the tight silver and blue suits they were both wearing.

"I think they're mostly here to make us look bad ass. But then again, no one had ever tried to go through a wall to test them before."

"Oh my God. I'm so done with you."

They were still bickering when Raven entered the room. Her rosy complexion had turned blue, her hair was bright red and her eyes completely yellow. Thea gasped, surprised by the odd and yet beautiful apparition.

"Uh oh," Peter said. "When Mystique gets here, _that's_ when shit hits the fan."

He got up and offered his hand to help Thea up.

"Are you sure you can handle that little witch? I mean, you're already hurt and this wasn't even the dangerous stuff."

Thea grabbed his hand and quickly got up.

"Bring it on."

 **...**

Only a few minutes later, she regretted ever saying that. Because at this very moment, she felt like hell was breaking out. Raven –or Mystique, rather- had sent 7 enormous human-like robots after them and the room had transformed into a battlefield with destroyed buildings, debris, dirt and explosions everywhere. All the mutants were fast and precise and attacked the robots with confidence, but Thea who barely even knew what her powers were let alone how to control them was mostly trying to run away from them. She noticed that her new friends were doing everything they could to protect her, trying to focus the attackers' attention on them. _Yay,_ _teamwork._

As she was safely -and cowardly, she admitted to herself- hiding behind a busted brick wall, she saw Ororo being attacked by two robots at the same time. Taking a deep breath, she carefully got out of her shelter and focused. Noticing a 15 feet long metal bar on the floor, she levitated it and threw it right in one of the metal men's head, saving Ororo from a hit she wouldn't have seen coming. The robot crumbled on the grown with a loud metallic noise. Ororo turned and smiled at Thea, mouthing a "thank you". But before Thea could nod back, she heard a cry of pain right behind her. Scott had just been seriously hit and had violently landed on a pile of debris. Before Thea could do anything, Jean came to help him, putting herself between the two opponents and attacking the robot.

And then it all happened really fast.

Thea ran to Scott's side to check on the young man, but before she could get to him, he tried to get up and looked at Jean. What he apparently failed to notice is that his red lenses had been broken during his fall. Fearing for Jean's life, Thea put a hand in front of her.

"No!" she screamed at Scott.

She felt a weird energy leaving her body, like a shock, and everything stopped.

The fake buildings and scenery flickered and disappeared. The 4 remaining robots stumbled and fell to the ground. The mutants were staring at each other, unable to understand what just happened. But the most surprised of them all was Scott. Because his glasses were gone. His eyes were wide open. And nothing was coming out of them.

"What the-" he started, stunned. "Thea, are you doing this?"

The young woman hadn't put her hand down and was trying really hard not to lose her focus. She had no idea how, but somehow she had negated Scott's power, and apparently stopped everything else in the room at the same time. A strange red shiny smoke was seeping out of her finger towards Scott. The others carefully gathered around them, just as astonished.

"Yes," she eventually said, gritting her teeth. "And I don't know how much longer I can hold it, so if you could please close your eyes I'd really appreciate it."

Scott nodded and quickly closed his eyes. With a sigh of relief, she let go. She was out of breath and suddenly felt as if she hadn't slept in days, her whole body aching and shaking. She stumbled, unable to stand on her two feet, but in a gust of wind Peter slid under her shoulder, supporting her.

"You ok?" he asked, a worried look on his face.

"I'm fine," she whispered.

But she really wasn't. Clinging to Peter, she was shivering and struggling not to pass out. Suddenly, a door behind them burst open. Raven and Hank ran to them; Charles wasn't far behind them.

"Sorry guys" Raven said when she got to the group. "Something fried the system that opens the doors, we couldn't get in."

Hank handed a new pair of glasses to Scott.

"Yeah" Peter answered, still holding Thea close. "That something would be Thea. She pretty much destroyed everything in here."

Charles, who had just joined them, stared at Thea with a smile on his face.

"You have made great progress today, Thea. You can be proud of yourself."

"I lost control, how is that progress?" Thea mumbled, glancing at the still smoking equipment around them.

"You didn't lose control, you let go. There's a difference."

Hank moved closer to her and put his hand on her forehead.

"She's freezing. This must have taken a lot from her, she needs to rest," he kindly smiled at her. "We'll get you to the infirmary, you're done for the day."

"I got it" Peter said as he put his free arm behind her legs and lifted her up.

They disappeared in a _whoosh_. Thea barely had time to realise Peter had brought her to her own room and gently put her on her bed. She deeply fell asleep before she could even say thank you.

 **...**

 _Sore._ That's the first word that came into her mind when she woke up. Feeling very cold, she tried to move her arm to pull back her blanket on her shoulders but she couldn't even get it up to her chest. She groaned and opened her eyes. She was in her room. She heard the soothing sound of fire slowly munching on wood in her fireplace. The shutters were opened but it was pitch black outside. She slowly turned her head to see Peter sitting in her chair, playing on his Gameboy. Again.

"We have to stop meeting like that," he scoffed.

"What time… what _day_ is it?" she asked, feeling like she slept for months.

"It's 3 am. You've been sleeping all day since your little show this morning."

"And what are _you_ doing here?"

He put his game down and stretched his arms upwards.

"I insisted they didn't take you to the infirmary, figured you already spent enough time in there. So we had to take turn looking after you. I volunteered for the night."

What he didn't say was how relieved he was to finally see her awake.

"You kinda scared us, little witch," he smiled, bending over and resting his elbows on his knees.

She smiled and pushed herself up to sit. Despite the warm temperature in the room and her heavy blanket, her weakened body was still shivering. Without a word, Peter got up and wrapped his silver jacket around her shoulders. Their glances met for a second and they both looked away, embarrassed. Peter sat back down. Thea stared at the fire, suddenly hit by how fast everything was happening to her. In the past couple days, she had discovered that her parents might still be alive, she now knew who was after her, she had lost the trust of someone she loved, discovered powers she never suspected having and met a whole bunch of people like her.

And then there was Peter. She was warming up to the sassy silver-haired boy. At first, she didn't care for the man's attitude, which she found almost insulting given the desperate state she was in. But she soon realised it was a defense mechanism, Peter complex mind's trick to hide his hurt soul. In the middle of the storm that was his mind, she could hear and feel all the pain and self-disgust, although she didn't really know what could have possibly caused him to feel this way. Besides, ever since she got here, he had always been there for her. She never really thanked him, but now she knew how.

"I lost it," she whispered, still staring at the blaze.

"What?"

"Back in the infirmary, when I came here for the first time. You asked me what happened at Ellie's old school back in LA."

Peter didn't say anything, peering at her.

"It was the day of the fifth anniversary of our parents' loss. I was picking her up. The moment she saw me, she started crying, letting out what she probably had been holding in all day. I hugged her and when I got up, a bunch of kids were making fun of her because she had no parents to pick her up and because her only family was white. They started calling her all sorts of names."

Thea clenched her fists, reliving the fury she had felt at this moment. She shook her head.

"So young, and already so cruel. Ellie did her best to stay stoic but I saw tears running down her cheeks again. I could feel her sorrow like a knife being shoved right in my heart. And that's when I lost it. I was just staring at those kids and I suddenly felt my fingers burning. Next thing I know, the whole freaking building is on fire, and there's screaming and sirens everywhere."

She put her head down.

"I could have killed someone. A kid. I've been called a monster before, but that was the first time I actually felt like that's what I was." she whispered, avoiding Peter's stare.

For once in his life, Peter didn't know what to say. He was looking at this beautiful woman, her mesmerizing blue eyes shining with tears, her strawberry blonde hair ruffled by the hours of sleeping. He felt the urge to hug her, tell her everything was going to be alright, but he wasn't good with affection. Instead, he just sat there, his brain completely frozen.

"Magneto is my father," he eventually said without thinking, practically shouting.

Thea jumped at the raise of voice and finally looked at him.

"What?" she said in a sob, wiping her tears.

"Magneto. Erik Lensherr. The guy who destroyed half the city? Yeah he's my dad."

Thea blinked. Her crying had suddenly stopped, but now she was wondering if she had blacked out again and missed a part of the conversation.

"I never told him," he continued. "I went back for him, during the whole Apocalypse thing. But I never told him. And then he saved my life, I moved in here and I thought he would too. But he left. Again."

He had a sad laugh.

"You know for the fastest man alive, I can be pretty slow on the uptake. If I'd understood he wasn't coming back, I would have said something. Anything to make him stay."

Thea had trouble comprehending what she had just heard.

"Why are you telling me this?" she finally asked.

He laughed again.

"I dunno. We were having a moment and you were telling me all this super dark stuff and I kinda felt bad but I didn't know what to say sooo… I said the first thing that popped into my mind."

Thea started laughing at the ridicule of the situation. Peter quickly joined her. Something was different between them now. They had shared something dark and deep, a weird bond had formed; something some would call trust, but it was more than that. It was like finally letting go of a heavy burden and accepting to share it with someone else. And the weirdest part was they'd only met a couple days ago.

He finally got on his feet with a sigh.

"Well, that was weird. I'll let you get some rest. Call me if you need anything. Oh and I want that jacket back, it's kinda the only one I own."

But talking about all of this had dug up some painful feelings and memories in Thea's mind. She didn't feel like sleeping alone.

"Wait" Thea said without even thinking about it.

He stopped.

"Stay- I mean… if you want," she stuttered. She sighed and tried again.

"Will you please stay with me?"

He faked an annoyed look and rolled his eyes.

"Ok I know we kinda bonded but don't get too needy."

She laughed and moved to make him some room. He jumped on the bed next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. She let her head rest against him.

"G'night little witch."

"Good night Speedy."

There was a world of danger waiting for her outside that door. And yet she had never felt safer.


	8. Dark Waters

"Oh my God stop, I'm beginning you, make it stop!" Peter's cries of despair could be heard throughout the whole school. Thea rolled her eyes and removed the needle from the vinyl.

"Okay don't be such a drama queen. How can you call yourself a music lover and _not_ enjoy Debussy's _Clair de Lune_?"

The two youngsters were hanging out in the common room, Thea sitting on the ground against the couch on which Peter was sprawled out. He removed the cushion he had put over his face to muffle his screams.

"Have you been living in the 1890s for the past 25 years? Where's Scorpion, Pink Floyd, Queen, Led Zeppelin?" he moaned once more as Thea was giving him a blank stare. He stood up and started searching for a few discs on the shelf.

"This is all wrong. From now on, priority _numero uno_ will be to upgrade your musical education," he kept rambling as Thea was watching him with an amused smile on her lips. She didn't think she would ever see Peter caring so much about anything. She was about to offer to get more drinks when Scott entered the room, a nervous smile on his face.

"Hey Thea, could I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure" Thea replied, suppressing a frown. Even though she enjoyed the young man company, they had never really have the chance to bond in the past four weeks that she had already spent in the school. They stepped away from the couch, ignoring Peter's glances.

"What's up?" she looked at the young mutant. She couldn't see his eyes behind the red shades but from the sound of his racing mind, she could tell he was nervous. It was an odd sight, as the handsome man usually looked so self-confident. She patiently waited for him to start talking, not wanting to pressure him.

"I was wondering if you- if you would agree to use your power on me. Again."

Thea's eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"Remember a few weeks back, when you trained with us in the danger room for the first time?"

" _Oh yes_ " she said back, bitter. "I remember."

"Well I was thinking maybe… maybe you could try and negate my powers again? Just for a few seconds, a couple minutes top? I'm coming directly to you cause I know our professors would never agree to that, since you know it might be… dangerous."

"Oh you mean more dangerous than sending a dozen murder-bots after us?" she scoffed.

He laughed in return and stared at her.

"Is that a yes?"

She peered at Scott for a few seconds. He just wanted to feel normal for a while, not having the see the world in red for once. She could definitely relate to that. She eventually nodded with a kind smile. The young man couldn't hold back his excitement and suddenly pulled her into a solid hug, grateful for her generosity. Surprised, Thea patted his back, always happy to help.

"Don't tell the others ok? I know most of them wouldn't approve. They don't need to know."

She nodded and they started heading towards the exit.

"Hey Peter we're going to go… for a walk," she said while opening the door. "Rain check on that rock class?" she added with a smile.

The whole time she had been talking with Scott, Peter had been pretending to keep going through the dozens of discs on the shelf while glancing at them from time to time, fighting the jealousy that was slowly creeping in his mind. He had felt his fists clenching and vibrating at the sight of Scott hugging Thea.

"Sure," he mumbled without looking at her. "See ya."

Thea frowned and left the room, shaking her head. Sometimes Peter's mood swings were a little difficult to handle.

 **...**

They made sure no one had seen them entering the danger room. Scott double-checked all the observation rooms and turned off all the cameras before coming back to Thea.

"Is that really necessary?" Thea asked with a nervous chuckle.

"We're not supposed to come down here alone. I won't let you get in trouble because of me."

Thea appreciated his honesty which made her want to help him even more.

"Alright," she sighed. "Let's do this."

She firmly anchored her two feet into the ground and stared at Scott. She tried to remember everything Charles had taught her in the past few weeks, breathing evenly, focusing her attention on the very core of Scott's power. It was like a dense spot in the middle of his brain that she could turn on and off on demand. Slowly, very slowly, the characteristic scarlet smoke seeped out of her fingers towards Scott's shades. Soon enough, she nodded at him, too focused to speak, and he carefully removed them. His eyes were closed at first. Then he turned his head so he wouldn't hurt Thea no matter what happened and slowly opened his eyelids. When he saw nothing red or hot or _deadly_ was coming out of them, he let out a "YES!" of victory, which almost made Thea lose her focus. As Charles had shown her, she relaxed her tense muscles and put her power on 'standby'. Scott's powers were still negated, but she could breath and speak a little easier. The two youngsters looked at each other, smiling.

"You rock, Thea," Scott simply said, trying to enjoy every moment of it.

"I know," she answered with a smug smile.

They spent half an hour chatting and laughing, spending time together like two normal youngsters would. Thea was feeling particularly proud to be able to use her abilities for so long without feeling too drained. After a while though, she had to stop.

"I'm sorry Scott, but I think that's it for today," she gritted as a sharp pain appeared in her side.

He nodded and reluctantly put his shades back on. With a sigh of relief, Thea let go of her powers. She felt instantly better.

They went back upstairs. Everyone was in the common room, joyfully chatting. All except for Peter who was sulking in a corner, a gigantic headset on his ears. Scott softly pulled Thea aside.

"Hey, thank you. Really. It means a lot to me."

"You're welcome Scotty boy," she said slyly. "Anytime."

"Really? You'd be ok if with doing that again?"

"Sure, as long as we don't get busted. It's a good training for me too."

Grateful, he gently hugged her again before they joined the others. Thea crashed in the couch between Ororo and Jean as Kurt and Scott decided to play darts.

"What was that all about?" Ororo asked, a sly sparkle in her dark eyes.

"Scott needed some help with something," Thea awkwardly replied. "Jean, I hope it's ok, I know you an Scott are kind of a thing, I swear there's nothing going on between us. You can read my mind if you want."

Jean had a kind smile.

"I don't need too. I trust you. Plus, I'm not really sure what's going on between me and Scott right now, I don't mind him hanging out with you."

Thea nodded, relieved. The conversation kept going and the three girls were eventually arguing over which guy was the cutest in their group when Peter suddenly got up and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

"What's up with him?" Thea asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Thea, honey," Ororo sighed, "I love you but _boy_ can you be dumb sometimes."

Thea shoved her shoulder as Jean was trying not to laugh too loudly.

"She's right" Jean added, "well not about the dumb part, but you _have_ been pretty oblivious."

"What?" Thea cried, outraged. "What is that supposed to mean?"

The two girls rolled their eyes.

"I don't need to read minds to know that Peter is totally into you" Jean slyly mused, bumping Thea's shoulder with her own. "How do you think he felt when he saw you and Scott together?"

Thea bit her lip, worried.

"But it was totally innocent!"

"He doesn't know that," Ororo countered. "He's been through a lot emotionally; he's just being protective of his trust."

"Or his pride," Thea mumbled, frustrated that Peter would get upset over nothing. The girls giggled at her comment.

"Go find him." Ororo said, gently pushing her with her elbow. "I'm sure you'll talk it out."

Thea sighed and got up.

"If I'm not back in an hour, call for help. He probably will have punched me at super speed or something."

Ororo and Jean laughed and watched her leave the room with a look of pity on their faces.

"You'd think we'd have something more important than boys on our mind right now" Jean sighed, looking over at Scott who was yelling at Kurt for cheating at the game with his powers.

"Guess we're not that different after all," Ororo answered with a wink.

...

Thea slowly walked through the empty school's hallways. It was late at night and all the younger students were already in bed. She thought about what she could say to Peter to apologise, but she honestly had no idea. She wasn't so good with expressing her feelings, plus she had never thought of him this way before, even though she did feel closer to him than any of the other guys in this school. Confused and nervous, she walked outside, knowing exactly where to find him. She walked a good fifteen minutes through the woods behind the school before arriving to a gorgeous lake, hidden away in the middle of the dark trees. As she expected, Peter was there, sitting on the edge of a little wooden dock, his legs dangling over the water. She silently sat next to him and stared at the cloudless night sky. She tried to sense Peter's feeling but as always, it was just an ocean of racing and confusing thoughts that ended up making her dizzy. They spent a few minutes in silence, until Thea decided to break the ice.

"What are you thinking about?"

Peter stayed silent, so long that she thought he would never answer.

"My dad," he eventually said, his black eyes still glued to the horizon. "I think deep down, he knows. I saw the way he looked at me. I may act detached but I'm not stupid. He knows. But he still chose to leave."

"Erik has a troubled past" Thea whispered. "He probably needs to figure some things out on his own before letting anyone else in his life. That doesn't mean he won't come back."

Peter shook his head with a sad chuckle.

"People always leave," he simply answered. This time, Thea could feel Peter's pain like a hole being punched right through her heart.

"I'm sorry for earlier," she eventually said, eager to ease his pain. "I didn't mean to upset you. I just didn't think that you and I were-"

"What?" he cut her off, raising his voice. "That we were what? We're not teenagers anymore, Thea. And we're not liars like the rest of them."

"I never lied to you!"

"Then what were you doing with Scott this afternoon?"

Thea sighed.

"I- I can't tell you that but-"

He got up with a sarcastic laugh.

"Maybe you never lied to me Thea, but you have to stop lying to yourself."

As he was already leaving, Thea got up as well, ready to go after him.

If they hadn't been fighting, maybe they would have seen it coming. If Peter hadn't been so upset, maybe he would have gotten time to react. If Thea hadn't spent the afternoon with Scott, maybe they wouldn't even have been here in the first place. Whatever chain of events lead them here at this very instant, when ten men dressed in black and heavily armed creeped out of the woods, they definitely weren't prepared. Four of them were aligned in front of the others, one knee on the ground and holding gigantic guns with wide white canons. When they fired them at the two youngsters, they could almost see the destructive waves running trough the air towards them. Thea had just time to instinctively surround herself with a warm red shield of energy but on her right, Peter stumbled backwards before slowly falling in the water with a loud _splash._ Before she could run to help him, the men in black attacked her in unison. Mentally blessing Raven for the countless and painful hours she spent improving her hand to hand combat, she raised her fists to her face. She wasn't going to go without a fight.

She punched the first two men, using her powers to send them flying several feet in the air, ignoring the agonising pain as two of her fingers broke on impact. Quickly avoiding the others' attacks, she kicked another one in the throat before a fourth one grabbed her and threw her on the ground, trying to choke her. Putting her fingers on his neck, she sent him a shock, causing him to scream in pain and rage and collapse next to her. Gasping for air, she got back up and took off, placing herself several feet above the six attackers left. They hesitated. Apparently, they didn't expect her to have this much power. _Yeah, I've learned a few tricks._ However, the thought occurred that had they been instructed to kill her, she would probably be dead already. Someone wanted her alive. And she knew who it was. She spread her arms to the sky, her eyes turning completely red. Next to the attackers, a massive oak came out of the ground, leaving huge chunks of dirt behind. Thea tilted it in a horizontal position before sending it flying into the men in black. Too stunned to react, they all got violently hit and ended up on the ground, unconscious or worst. The trunk came to a stop several feet behind Thea and she tumbled to the ground, ignoring the blood dripping down her nose. She had never levitated something that heavy before, and she was paying the price.

Breathing heavily, she spun around, her thoughts swirling into her brain but focused on one thing: _Peter_.

"Peter?!" she screamed, trying to remember where he had fallen. Without wasting anymore time, she jumped in the cold dark water. The cold ceased her like a giant hand squeezing all the warmth out of her body. It was pitch black; there was no way she was going to find him like this. Trying to suppress her panic, she closed her eyes and focused on trying to hear Peter's messy thoughts. _There._ It was weak, but she could hear it. Following her mind, she swam for what seemed like an eternity before finally bumping into a motionless body. Placing herself behind him, she wrapped her arms around his chest and started swimming up as fast as she could.

She gasped for air as soon as she reached the surface and dragged Peter on the bank.

"Please be ok," she whispered, her long blond hair darkened by the dirty water. The fight had lasted less than a minute but it was more than enough for someone to breath a mouthful of water. His lips had turned as white as his skin. She held back her tears, checking for a pulse with shaky hands. As she did so, the young man started coughing and spitting water. She let out a loud sigh.

"It's ok, we're going to be ok," she softly repeated, not sure if she was trying to reassure him or herself. She put his head on her lap, brushing his silver strands out of his eyes. He kept gasping for air, clinging to Thea as if she was his lifeline.

She realised she was shaking, not out of cold or fear, but out of rage. She was done hiding and waiting for Stryker to make a move.

She was at war.

And she was bringing one hell of an army with her.

* * *

 **A/N:** Once again, thanks A LOT for all the favs, follows and reviews, it really keeps me motivated. I'll try to keep updating weekly.

I usually reply to reviews via PM, but I answer the guests' reviews here.

So to Sara, thanks for the kind words, I hope you'll enjoy the rest of it!


	9. Hidden

A gloomy silence was filling the room, punctuated by the light sound of the drops of water falling from Thea's long hair onto the infirmary's tiling. She was sitting on the edge of a bed, wrapped in a long towel. She was nervously adjusting the bandage that was holding her two broken fingers together on her left hand, avoiding Peter's gaze. The young man was sitting in front of her with a similar towel over his shoulders, coughing from time to time. Charles and Raven were there too, as well as the rest of the X-men, all in their pyjamas. The only two missing were Hank and Kurt. After what felt like hours, the both of them appeared in a blue smoke, causing most of the people in the room to jump.

"Seven of them vanished," Hank said, sighing and crossing his arms on his one-pieced blue pyjama. "The rest of them..." he glanced at Thea, hesitating. "They didn't make it."

Thea repressed a moan, rested her elbows on her knees and buried her face in her hands.

"They were bad people, Thea." Jean whispered who sensed her pain and guilt, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"So that gives me the right to kill?" Thea countered, on the verge of a breakdown. What if these guys had a family? Kids?

"It was self-defence," Raven insisted with a firm voice. "It wasn't your fault."

"If anything, this is my fault," Charles said. "Knowing Stryker was after you, I should have enhanced the school security much more than I did. I should have known better."

Peter let out a loud annoyed grunt.

"And if I hadn't gone out there, all of this would have probably never happened. But this isn't a guilt-off, people. So how about we get our heads out of our asses and start coming up with a plan to get back at this son of a bitch?"

"Language," Charles simply mumbled, slowly rubbing his forehead. The kid had almost died tonight, he could give him a break just for this once.

"We can't let him get away with this," Thea said, suddenly getting up. She started pacing, a pool of boiling lava inside her widening by the second. "We have to go after him."

"I am not letting you use the X-men for your personal vendetta," Charles calmly said, sensing Thea's power building up inside her.

"This may be a vendetta, but it's not personal!" Thea exploded in a fit of rage. "Not anymore. Peter could have _died_ tonight. How many deaths will it take for you to start doing something Charles?"

She turned to the rest of the assembly.

"Are you seriously going to let Stryker terrorise us and force us to live in fear like fugitives? Well guess what, I've been doing that for the past five years and I'm sick of it! I'm tired of waiting around for him to make his move."

The other youngsters looked at each other, unsure of what to say. Thea was their friend and they all felt the need to help her. But unlike Thea, the rest of them almost idolised Charles, the man who had saved them from a miserable and lonely life. And the X-men were not a democracy. If Charles ordered them to stay put, then that's what they would do. They didn't say anything, but Thea could feel their response like ice running down her spine. She glared at them, hurt by their reaction. Feeling guilty, they all looked down, expect for Peter who was giving her an indecipherable look.

As an awkward silence ensued, Raven let out a sigh. She didn't care for Thea's attitude, especially towards Charles. She had yelled at her old friend more times than she could count but she was the only one in this school who was allowed to do so.

"Hey," her voice broke the silence like a whip. "Let's say you go after Stryker. You somehow manage to find him. Then what? You're going to take out his army all by yourself? Even with the X-men that'd be impossible. Unlike us, these guys are prepared for that kind of attack. And what if you get killed? Or worst, taken? What good is that going to do? And what about Ellie; who will she have left?"

Thea's eyes narrowed. All the beds in the room started shaking. Peter hastily got away from his, not wanting to end up squashed on the ceiling after surviving drowning. Thea got closer to Raven until their noses almost touched. Her voice was dangerously reduced to a growl.

"Don't you dare bring Ellie into the mix, and don't you dare think for one second that she isn't behind every decision I've made."

"Is she?" Raven countered, unimpressed with Thea's little magic show. "Is that why you want to recklessly go after the one guy whose gun power we know to be too much for us?"

Thea could almost hear the others hold their breath. They knew what Thea was capable of when she was pissed off and really didn't want to be in the room when it happened. The young woman, trembling with rage, was trying her best not to punch Raven in the face out of frustration. She knew she was right, which made her even more furious. Eventually, she clenched her fists until it started to hurt and the room fell silent again. In their own way, these people were trying to help her. They had enough problems as it; infighting was the last thing they needed. Thea finally broke eye contact with her mentor and left the room, slamming the door behind her. She heard Charles' voice calling in her mind but she shut him out, heading to the school's basement. This was where Hank and she resumed her parents' research for the past weeks. They were trying to recreate the molecule Pascal and Marie had synthesise but to no success. They seemed to be missing something and even both their brilliant minds put together couldn't figure out what it was. Thea walked to her desk and feverishly went through the endless piles of papers swamping her work space. She wasn't sure what she was trying to achieve. Maybe she was hoping to find something she had missed all this time, the answer to all of her problems. She hated herself for not being smart enough to figure it out.

Her life was a mess and it seemed like every decisions she had made in the past months had made it worst. What if Stryker decided to use her love for Ellie against her? If she had to choose between her and the rest of the world, she wouldn't hesitate one second. Ellie was everything to her and she'd surely die if anything happened to the little girl. Sometimes she felt like Ellie would be better off without her, that maybe she would have gotten an actual chance at a normal life if Thea had left her with Alex, a kind and loving man who would take care of her better than Thea ever could.

Sensing the pain and frustration rise in her, Thea let out a loud " _merde_ " and sent the papers flying in the air, clearing her desk of everything that was on it.

And that's when she noticed it.

She was resting both her fists on the desk, heavily breathing and ignoring the agonising pain in her left hand, when something caught her eye. Right there, on this pile of crumpled yellowish paper, something was... popping out. Putting back her messy hair behind her ear, she slowly crouched, gathering the sheets that had caught her attention. It was a dozen hand-written notes that neither Hank nor Thea could make sense of, even though the latter had spent hours if not days working on it, recognising her mother's hand writing. She smoothed them out on her desk and put them in a pile. She raised it above her, putting it right in front of the light. And there it was. A large, bold word appeared in front of her, made of dozens of others words written on the sheets. What Thea thought to be rambling notes from a brilliant mind were a very specific pattern, meant to lead her to one word. ' _Joseph'_.

"What?" Thea murmured, confused. Her heart was racing. Deep down she knew this was something extremely important –otherwise her mom wouldn't have gotten through all this trouble to hide it-, but she couldn't make sense of it. This name didn't ring any bell. Was it someone she worked with? Someone associated with their enemies?

Feeling her head swirling from excitement –and probably exhaustion-, she decided to go through the rest of the papers again, not even bothering to put them back on the desk. Kneeling on the ground, she tried to read them backwards, from afar or very close, but she didn't find anything else.

She was running a frustrated hand in her hair when the door opened up. Charles wheeled in and Thea immediately felt his concern. He stared at her, this crazy looking girl sitting on the floor in the middle of mountains of paper, before coming closer to her.

"Thea, I know this is upsetting but you've been in there for hours, you need to rest-"

"I found something," she cut him off, struggling to get up without slipping on the sheets. "It's a- well I'm not sure what it is. Some kind of clue. A name."

It was always hard to sense the professor's exact emotions since he had such a great control of his mind, but Thea was certain to have seen a strike of apprehension in his eyes.

"The name was Joseph," she slowly said as he quickly composed himself and questioningly looked at her. This time, she didn't feel anything odd going on in his mind.

"Does that mean anything to you?" she asked after a brief silence. "You said you used to work with my parents. Could it be someone they knew?"

"I'm sorry Thea. I don't know."

She peered at him but he mirrored her gaze. Thea repressed a sigh and gave up on trying to read his emotions. Trying to figure this man out was like a puzzle. You don't know where to start, you usually fail and end up with a bad headache.

"There has to be more to it," she whispered, rubbing her forehead. "Stryker has part of my parents' data correct?"

Charles reluctantly nodded, knowing where this was going.

"We have to retrieve it," Thea stated, determination making her blue eyes shine.

"We talked about this, Thea."

"I know- I know," she stuttered, coming closer to Charles, eager to rally him to her cause. "But this is different. I'm not talking about a blind and reckless attack, I just need to get those papers back; if we locate Stryker's labs, we have enough powers here to get in and out without notice. I mean come on, you broke Erik out of the Pentagon, so how hard can that be?"

"It was a desperate situation," Charles tempered as he shook his head.

"And this one isn't?"

The professor sighed in defeat, powerless against Thea's determination.

"We don't have to talk about this now. For the love of God Thea, go get some rest. You are no good to us if you die of exhaustion."

The young woman sighed as well but admitted that she could use a good shower right about now.

"This conversation is not over," Thea said as she raised a finger towards Charles. The latter couldn't hold back a smirk.

"You are just as stubborn as your mother."

And for the first time since Thea had gotten to the school, she and Charles exchanged a knowing smile.

 **...**

She rushed back to her room, not wanting to run into Ellie in the state she was. The sun was already high in the sky and the younger students were about to go to class. When she entered the common room, all her friends were there, anxiously waiting for her. They all got up and rushed to her, except for Peter who stayed behind peering at the young woman. He had slipped into a comfortable navy blue hoodie and sweat pants.

"Are you ok?" Kurt asked with his thick accent. "We were worried sick about you."

"Yeah, you disappeared all night; did you get any rest?" Jean added, a protecting hand on her shoulder.

"Guys, guys," Thea said as she raised her hands in front of her, overwhelmed by their concern. "I'm fine. I just- we have a lot to talk about."

"But not until you get some sleep," Scott said with a scolding look. "We're going to practice anyway. It can wait."

Thea actually felt like it couldn't but the pain and fatigue from her fight was starting to freeze her brain. She finally gave in and nodded, letting the others leave but not before they all gave her a tight hug. As she was about to head to her room, she noticed Peter was still here, hands buried in his pockets. Ignoring her body that was begging her to go lay down, she awkwardly came closer to him, narrowing her eyes. Something was different about him. He wouldn't look at her and it was as if a light had been turned off in his dark eyes. He looked exhausted and Thea felt her heart tighten with guilt when she realised she hadn't checked on him all night.

"Are you ok?" she whispered.

"Yeah," he simply answered, his eyes glued to the carpet, his foot slowly sweeping the floor. "You?"

"I'm fine."

Silence. They both knew they were lying.

"Peter..." she started, hesitant. They were a million things she wanted to say to him, but he cut her off.

"Scott is right, you should get some sleep. You look like crap."

"Gee, thanks. So do you."

He softly scoffed and finally glanced at her. He looked like he was going to say something but eventually left, heading to his own room. Thea noticed he didn't run out using his powers like he usually would, but simply walked out, feet dragging and head low. She sighed. Was he still mad at her about their fight earlier? Did he blame her for what happened to him? He would have every right to. She felt terrible that he got caught in the crossfire. That was precisely the kind of things that made her push everyone she cared about out of her life. She was a danger to them.

Too tired to feel anything, she chased these dark thoughts away and almost fell asleep in her shower before finally crashing on her bed. She looked at a picture of her, Marie and Pascal on her nightstand.

"I'm coming for you," she whispered before falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.

 **...**

"You were too hard on her, Raven."

The accused and Hank were standing across from Charles in his office, his massive wooden desk between them.

"And you're too soft." countered the woman who had turned back into her natural form. "She's out of control. Believe it or not, I care about her and without some boundaries, she's going to get herself killed."

"She is not a child anymore, she can make her own decisions."

"But this isn't just about her," Hank softly chimed in. "If Stryker gets what he wants, he could be a danger to everyone. Not just the mutants."

"And what am I supposed to do?" Charles replied, frustrated. "Lock her up until we figure this out?"

"Isn't that basically what we've been doing for the past month?" Raven scoffed. A dismayed silence followed her comment. "You're going to have to tell her the truth, Charles." she added with a softer voice. "Otherwise she's going to find out by herself, she's smarter than we all are. And when she does..."

"I'll lose her trust," Charles sighed, causing Raven to laugh again.

"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but she never trusted you. And she never will."

* * *

 **A/N:** Things just don't seem to get better for poor Thea...

As always, thanks for the follows, favs and reviews, I love writing this story and it feels great to know that other people are enjoying it as well. Until next time!


	10. The Power of Trust

**A/N:** Hey guys! So I'm uploading a little early this week to apologize in advance; I'm going back to work on Tuesday and I probably will have trouble uploading on a regular basis from now on. I hope you understand and don't worry, I'll do my best to keep up because I'm really enjoying writing this story and I'm glad to see other people are enjoying it as well! :)

* * *

"You realise I'm not asking for your permission right?"

"I don't care. I'm not letting you go."

Despite the gravity of the situation, Thea couldn't hold back a giggle in front of her sister's pout. They were in Thea's room and the latter was trying to convince the little girl not to worry about the crazy plan she had been cooking up since the attack. It wasn't going so well.

"I'm not kidding," Ellie added, "you got attacked two days ago and you already want to go after this guy? You're supposed to be the reasonable one."

"I told you," Thea sighed. "I'm not going after him, I just need to find the rest of mom and dad's papers. I thought you wanted to know what happened to them?"

"Not if it means I have to lose you too!"

Thea bit her lips and crouched in front of Ellie to get to her height.

"I'm not going to leave you, ok? Believe it or not, I'm doing this for you. So that when this is all over you can finally have a normal life."

"You sure have some weird ways to show me you love me." mumbled the little girl, a world of worries in her eyes. "And how did you convince your X-buddies to go with this plan?"

Thea got back up.

"Humm theydon'tknowyet." she spat out in a cough.

"What?"

Thea sighed and sat on her bed.

"I haven't told them about it yet."

"And Professor Xavier?"

"Nope. He doesn't know either."

Ellie face palmed and jumped on the bed next to her sister.

"You really think they're going to agree with this madness? If so you really _are_ more naive than I am."

"It's a great plan. They're going to love it."

 **...**

"No."

"Hear me out!"

"No way."

The X-men and their three mentors were crammed into Charles' office where Thea was desperately trying to explain her not-so-brilliant-after-all plan. Her friends had already sceptically agreed to go with it as long as Charles gave them his green light. Which they all knew would never happen anyway.

"Please, Charles, let me explain," she pleaded, both her hands resting on his desk. He sighed and nodded, encouraging her to go on. She took a deep breath and went for it.

"Phase one would be to locate the lab where Stryker's conducting the research. Now we already know he's got multiple bases all over the world, and that kind of research needs _a lot_ of funding; too much for it to go unnoticed. I know my way around a scientific funding data base; I could trace it back to him. Phase two: get in the labs. Stryker is not a scientist, there's a good chance he won't actually be on the site. Plus, I have a lot of connections in this environment; I'm sure I could easily find a way to get in there without forcing my way in. Phase three: find my parents' papers and get the hell out of there. See? Easy peasy."

Charles's eyes narrowed as a silence ensued.

"That's a terrible plan," Raven stated, her arms crossed on her chest.

"Oh come on give me a break, it's not _that_ bad. Phase three is a little sketchy I'll give you that, but I really believe it could work."

"You really think you're going to find the papers you're looking for conveniently sitting on a desk?" Raven insisted. "It's the baseline of their work, it will be protected at best."

"Ok I didn't have time to work on the minutia of the plan but I know I can figure something out."

"And what if he uses the same technology he put on those guns to negate your powers?"

"I can protect myself against that, we know that now."

Raven shook her head, definitely not convinced.

"I think it's worth a try," Charles eventually mused, causing everyone –including Thea- to stare at him with an 'o' shaped mouth.

"Charles," Raven immediately reacted. "This is crazy and you know it." Her friend raised his hands in a gesture of appeasement and explained himself.

"Assuming Thea finds the right lab, there is indeed a good chance Stryker won't expect us to approach quietly. I think his last attack was specifically meant to force us out of our hiding spot and fight back. Why else would he attack now? He's running out of options and time and that makes it the perfect occasion for us to strike."

Thea, who was ready to celebrate and taunt Raven for her small victory, suddenly squinted.

"What made you change your mind?" she asked Charles.

"I didn't. I said I wouldn't let you blindly charge in and you found a compromise. This is me meeting you halfway."

Thea slowly nodded. She wasn't convinced but at least she got what she wanted.

"But you can't go in there alone," Charles added. "You're going to have to find a way to bring a least another person with you. Peter already proved us he would be perfect for that kind of mission."

Thea was going to refuse, not wanting to put her friend in danger again, but Peter got ahead of her.

"I don't think that's a good idea," the silver-haired man mumbled.

Thea felt like a knife was being shoved in her stomach. "Why not?" she asked, forgetting she was going to say the exact same thing two seconds ago. Charles and Jean both winced, Thea's sudden pain hitting them like a rock.

"Kurt's skills would be just as helpful in this kind of situation."

"Thank you Peter," the blue mutant chimed in, "but I fear my features would be too noticeable for us to discreetly get in."

"Go with Scott then," Peter said, raising his voice. "You two already hit it off anyway."

"Peter," Charles softly said, "I don't understand-"

"I said I won't do it!" shouted Peter before leaving in a rush. They all looked at each other, shocked by their friend's behaviour. Thea sighed and rubbed her face.

"I'll talk to him. Charles, thank you for backing me up. I swear you won't regret it."

Her professor smiled and gesture towards the exit. She took a deep breath and headed to the common room. The last time she tried to talk to Peter, it didn't end so well.

 **...**

Peter was sprawled out on a chair, watching TV in the common room. Thea approached him, waving a white handkerchief. He scoffed and turned the TV off, which she took as an invitation to sit in the chair next to him. She nervously twisted her fingers. As he wasn't saying anything, she sighed and looked right at him.

"Ok Maximoff, enough with the silent treatment. I feel terrible for everything that happened, and I'm really sorry. But we barely spoke since the attack and I just can't take it anymore. So if you're going to yell at me, just do it now cause-"

"Stop. Just- stop. This is not your fault."

"Then what is it?" she breathed out. "Talk to me."

"I don't get insecure." he said after a brief silence, staring into the distance. "That's just not who I am. Even when that asshole Apocalypse broke my leg and I was basically screwed, there was still a part of me that wanted to keep fighting. I knew I was going to make it, cause I always do. But when I fell in that water, leaving you to fight on your own..." he paused and shook his head with an empty laugh. "I've never felt so useless in my entire life."

Thea froze in her seat. She was _not_ expecting that. The young man always seem so confident, it was hard to imagine he would ever doubt himself. She slipped her hand into his, her fingers intertwining with his. She felt a light squeeze in return which gave her enough courage to answer him without having her voice failing her.

"It's not your powers I trust, Peter," she softly said. "It's you. You're strong, with or without your abilities. Don't let this jerk Stryker take that away from you." She paused and waited for him to look her in the eyes. "We're both messed up in more ways than we can count but that's what makes us a great team."

They stayed silent for a while, enjoying each other's company without needing to talk. After squeezing Thea's hand one last time, Peter reluctantly let go and sat back in his chair with a sigh.

"Life really _did_ screw us up, huh?" he scoffed, causing Thea to laugh in return.

"Yeah well hopefully we'll have enough time to at least try and fix it."

"At this rate? I wouldn't count on it. I mean you did just expose us your plan to highjack a super secret lab. By the way, Raven is right. Your plan sucks."

"Well not all of us can zoom in and out of a place going unnoticed," Thea pouted. "You know there is such a thing as going too fast."

"Typical sluggish people thing to say."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm just saying, if your plan doesn't involve running away from bad guys with guns at some point, it's no fun and not worth flying to freaking Bufu Egypt. Cause yeah, by the way, there's a good chance this asshole will have chosen the most inconvenient place to put his lab."

"Does that mean you're in?"

"Hell yes. Let's kick some ass."

They high-fived and stared at each other, unable to wipe a smile off their face.

"But just so we're clear," Thea added with a more composed voice, "there won't be any actual ass-kicking involved. This is a stealth mission."

Peter grunted and fell back in his chair.

"You _had_ to ruin the moment."

"Sorry."

 **...**

"So you got invited to the fundraising? Just like that?" Ororo asked, snapping her fingers. Thea nodded back, too out of breath to answer. She and her two girlfriends were just about to end their hour of running around the track behind the school. She was training really hard for her next mission, eager to have every advantage and to be mentally and physically ready. Her friends had decided to join her to show solidarity, although most of the time they couldn't keep up with her, not driven by a powerful rage as Thea was.

The three girls heard a strident whistle on the other side and stopped running, hands on their waist and heavily breathing.

"Getting invited wasn't the most difficult part," Thea explained, struggling to breathe and talk at the same time. "I worked for a couple weeks with the woman throwing the fundraising a few years back. I just gave her a call and she asked me to come."

"Russia though?" Jean asked, concerned. "In the middle of the taiga? Isn't that a little suspicious?"

Thea shrugged.

"I guess it's a rich people thing. The place she invited me to is a massive castle built in the middle of the forest. It's actually a good sign; it would be a great place to conduct super secret research."

"Speaking of which," Ororo piped in, "are you sure that's the right place?"

"One hundred percent sure. All the funding related to this place I could find traces back to Stryker or the CIA. Plus, the fundraising is supposed to support the development of a revolutionary nanoparticle that could help with memory loss. I did a little digging, and guess how many scientists are officially working on this project?"

"Zero?" Jean asked with a sly smile.

"Exactly. And there's no scientific publication related to this project either."

"Wow," Ororo breathed out with a little laugh, "have you slept at all in the past few days?"

"I'll rest when I finally find out the truth," Thea mused, her eyes sparkling with determination.

They finished walking down the track to join Raven and the three guys who were finishing up their set of push ups. Well, Scott was. Kurt was sprawled out on the ground, moaning and cursing in German while Peter was casually sipping on a juice box.

"Why is my plus one not training and sweating with the rest of us?" Thea asked Raven. Before their coach could answer, Peter zoomed in next to Thea and put an elbow on her shoulder, leaning on her.

"I did 102 laps and 35 push ups before you could end your sentence. Does that answer your question?"

"Show off," she scoffed before pushing him off and turning to Raven. "I thought we agreed he had to train at normal speed with the rest of us in case we had to deal with Stryker's stupid guns again?"

"True," Raven answered with a sly smile. "Five more laps for the two of you. You need to work on you team skills."

"Wait," Thea said with a laugh, "that's not-"

"Come on grandma," Peter yelled, already several feet ahead. "We ain't got all day."

"I'm going to kill you," Thea mumbled, not quite sure who she was talking to. She wiped the sweat on her forehead, straightened her tight black shorts and pink tank top and started running after the silver-haired mutant. He imperceptibly slowed down to let her catch up. They kept running in silence for a couple minutes.

"So how do you feel about this mission?" Peter eventually asked, annoyed at how excruciatingly slow they were running.

"Honestly?" Thea breathed out. "I'd feel better if you took it a little more seriously."

Peter glanced at her and grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop.

"Hey. You know I mess around, that's how I deal with stress. But if this is important to you then trust me, it is to me too," he said in one breath, his dark glance meeting her bright blue eyes. Thea nodded back, somewhat reassured.

"I don't remember telling you to stop halfway," they heard Raven scream from her observation post. The youngsters winced and got back to their jog.

"Doesn't matter anyway," Thea said with a sly smile. "I'm easily worth two men."

"Yeah?" he replied, mirroring her smile. Without any warning, he jumped on her back, locking his arms around her neck.

"Ow!" she squealed, caught off guard. "-the hell are you doing?!"

"You said you were worth two men, prove it."

"Oh please, you just don't want to run anymore. I knew you were a slacker."

Regaining her balance, she accelerated nonetheless and their laughs seemed to warm up the cold and still winter air. There was a million ways this mission could go wrong but at this very moment, she felt reassured that this weirdo was going to be by her side.

* * *

 **A/N:** Sh*t is about to go down in the next chapter so make sure to stay tuned! As always, thanks for your support, it means a lot to me :) until next time!


	11. Evening Star

**A/N:** So. So, so so soso, SO. It has been quite a while. Almost two years to be precise. I am not going to make up an excuse, I just got caught up with work, and the more I waited to update this story, the more it felt like I should just leave it the way it is. But it was always there on the back of my mind, and I really feel like trying to finish it, especially because people are still reading it even after all this time. And also because I still love working on it!  
So this is me trying. I don't know how often I will update this story, but at least I'll try and do my best!

I hope you'll forgive me dear readers, and most of all, enjoy this chapter.

* * *

Peter was nervous.

Not because he was heading to an unknown Russian mansion in the middle of nowhere. Not because he was on an extremely dangerous mission. Not even because he was probably about to risk his life for the umpteenth time. But confined in the luxurious passenger compartment of the black limo Charles had rented for the mission, Peter was trying really hard not to stare at the gorgeous woman sitting next to him. Feeling uneasy in his tight tuxedo, he kept pulling on his bow tie while glancing at Thea. The latter was nervously smoothing out the precious red fabric of her cleft long dress which was showing her shoulders and back. The full moon was making her long curled blonde hair shine with a metallic glow through the tainted window. Under the eerie light, it almost looked as if she was made of porcelain; a delicate doll peering into the unknown, as if her intense stare could light the dark forest surrounding them. Her knee was dangerously close to Peter's, causing him to twitch every time a bump in the road made them touch. And that tended to happen a lot, as the long vehicle was now driving on a narrow dirt road. In the driver's seat, Hank was silently turning the wheel, glancing at the two youngsters from time to time. After a long hour without any of them talking, the professor broke the silence causing his passengers to jump.

"Ok. Let's go through this again. What's the first thing you have to do when you get there?"

Thea nervously sighed and got ready to answer when Peter cut her off.

"Get in, find the papers, don't get killed. I think we got it."

He ignored Hank's glare through the mirror and winked at Thea. Even he could feel her anxiety. The young woman hesitantly smiled back.

"We'll be fine," she whispered, not sure if her answer was aimed at her professor or herself.

"Nervous?" Hank asked after a brief silence. As none of the young mutants answered, he slowly nodded and stared back at the road, rolling the window between him and his passengers up.

"I'm impressed you actually own a tuxedo. You look nice," Thea said softly, awkwardly trying to lighten the mood.

"It's a rental," Peter answered, straightening his jacket. "And don't get me started on how _you_ look tonight."

She scoffed but didn't add anything. They were joking around but weren't fooling anyone. They were both so tense they could feel the fear in the air like a cold blade softly running down their spine.

"It's going to be ok," Peter eventually said, immediately hating how corny it sounded.

"I hope not," Thea shot back, looking out the window. As Peter looked at her raising an eyebrow, she explained herself.

"If something goes wrong, it means we're onto something." she had a sarcastic laugh. "I know it sounds crazy."

"It doesn't. But then again, I wouldn't be the best judge of that."

"Why? Cause "crazy" doesn't even begin to describe your behaviour?"

"Something like that."

They shared a knowing laugh causing Thea's head to lean backwards, revealing her pearl white neck and for the first time, Peter felt his heart beat _too_ fast.

"Look Thea," he said without thinking, "before we go in, there's something you should know. I-"

He was interrupted by the window rolling down.

"We're here," Hank simply said, ignoring Peter's scowl. The young professor got out of the car and mimicking the perfect driver, opened Thea's door and helped her out of the vehicle.

"That's ok," Peter moaned, "I'll get my own door."

Giving in to a rare moment of tenderness, Hank put his hands on the young woman's shoulders.

"You two are going to be ok. I'll be right here if you need me."

Touched by her mentor's concern, Thea smiled back, trying to sound reassuring.

"I know. Thank you for everything Hank."

"Don't thank me yet," he sighed, taking a step back. "I'll see you very soon."

She nodded back as Peter was joining them. The young men helped her put on a heavy black coat. They only had to walk for about a thousand feet but the biting cold was already making her shiver. Grateful, she grabbed his arm and the couple turned to the mansion. Peter couldn't hold back a whistle. It was so massive they could barely see where its edges stopped in the dark night despite the fancy tall floor lamps revealing the yellowish stone.

"Here goes nothing," Peter whispered as they started walking up the cobbled alley.

There were a lot of expensive cars parked were Hank had dropped them but they were the only two walking up to the mansion/castle. The dark forest surrounding the place was not helping with the gloomy mood. Throwing paranoid looks around her, Thea straightened her grip on Peter's arm.

"You ok?" the young man asked, trying to look casual in case they were already being watched.

"Yeah," Thea answered, "it's just... something's off."

"What is it?"

"This place is supposed to be filled with people already, but I can't... feel them. It's like they-"

She never got to finish her sentence. As the couple was taking another step, they both suddenly felt a stabbing pain in their whole body and fell to their knees, gasping for air. The pain left them speechless for a few seconds until it started to fade away, only leaving a sore echo in their chest.

"The hell was that?" Peter breathed out.

Thea shook her head, still trembling. She looked back, but Hank was already out of sight. They were on their own. As she was still trying to catch her breath, Peter carefully got to his feet and helped her up.

"Is that what I think it is?" Thea asked, already knowing the answer. With a dark look on his face, the young man held his hand in front of him, trying to vibrate it. But absolutely nothing happened.

"Shit," he mumbled. "We have to go back."

"No!" Thea whispered furiously, her thoughts twirling in her mind. She grabbed Peter's sleeve, keeping him from walking away. "We knew this was a possibility. We're so close, we can't go back now!"

"I can't protect you like this Thea! And what if there were cameras out there? Then we're already made!"

"If that was the case they would have already come for us. I've lived without using my powers for almost 26 years, I can handle this."

The young mutant looked away, running a frustrated hand through his hair.

"Come on Pete, I can't do this without you," Thea whispered, wrapping her arms around herself, still shaking from the cold and the violent pain Stryker's technology had caused her. Peter looked over at his friend, mumbled a few things to himself and eventually sighed.

"If I die here, I swear to God I'm gonna be the most pissed off ghost in History."

Thea couldn't hold back a thin smile before reaching out to Peter's arm again. Even more scared than they were before, they approached the massive door and entered the mansion. Once inside, a tall blonde man standing straight in his red and blue uniform smiled at them.

"Good evening," he said with a thick Russian accent. "Names please?"

"Thea and Peter Johnson." Thea casually answered with a pretty smile. It was the name she used when she was working with Isabelle, the woman who had invited her to the fundraising. They had agreed it would feel more comfortable and natural to go in with their real first names. And as a couple. That part had been suggested by a very amused Scott during their brainstorming.

The steward had a polite smile and started looking through a heavy red-leathered book. Thea and Peter held their breaths as the blonde man read the names on his list at an excruciating slow speed. His finger ran through the lines until it finally came to a stop. He looked up at the couple, his brows almost inconspicuously furrowed, then gracefully opened his right arm toward the main room.

"Enjoy your evening."

The two young mutants let out a discreet sight of relief and nodded before entering the room.

The interior matched the already presumptuous exterior of the mansion. From the high stone ceiling were dangling countless gigantic crystal chandeliers, shining their yellow light on the massive room filled with the dressed-up crowd. A long red carpet was unravelling in the main aisle, from the entrance to the end of the room, where a large stage was. Thea looked up. The whole room was surrounded by a slightly darker gallery where the guests could go up and enjoy the view of the room filled with chattering and chimes from the glasses of champagne being emptied.

She was about to point it out to Peter to get a better view, when she noticed one particular guest in the crowd.

"Oh my God," she whispered, a wind of panic taking over her. "Abort, _abort!_ "

"What?" her plus-one whispered back, looking around to spot an incoming danger. "What is it?"

Putting her delicate hand on her forehead to hide her eyes in a very noticeable way, Thea turned to Peter and leaned into him.

"Norman is here."

Peter raised an eyebrow.

"Ok. I have two questions. Who's Norman, and why would anyone ever want to call their son Norman?"

"Stop messing around!" Thea scolded him, hitting his arm with a flick of her fingers. "He's… he was my… colleague. God, I completely forgot he worked with Isabelle, of course he was going to be here!"

"Hm," Peter squinted, even more suspicious. "Judging by how freaked out you are, either you killed this guy's dog and ran away, or you used to sleep with him and _also_ ran away. Either way, I _need_ to meet him."

"Peter," Thea started with a threatening tone. "Don't you da-"

But their bickering had done the exact opposite of what Thea had hoped. Everyone around them was now looking at the couple.

"Thea?"

The grave, soft voice had arisen from behind Peter. The latter winked at Thea, already guessing who it was. _Let's meet this Norman. With a name like his, he can't be that-_

As he turned around, Peter's thought was stopped with a gasp. Even as a straight man, he had to admit that the guy standing before him was a magnificent specimen of the human kind. He had to lift his face to meet his dark eyes and long eye-lashes. It seemed like his jaw line could cut through steel and his charcoal black hair was neatly cut above his large forehead. His figure was thin but the confident way he walked with both arms far apart from his sides left no doubt to how muscular he was. There was something dark and powerful emanating from him, and Peter's upper lip instinctively curled into a defensive grin.

Norman walked right past Peter as if he hadn't seen him -and he probably didn't- and stopped in front of Thea.

"It _is_ you," he said, a look of shock on his face. "How long has it been?"

Thea had an awkward smile. As soon as the man had stepped toward her, she had remembered everything about him as if she had last seen him the day before. The way he always kept his voice low, as if everything he said was confidential. The way he would only allow himself a half-smile when he thought no one was looking. The way he used to look at her with a frown, his whole body tensed as if he was worried she was going to explode any minute. Norman was on the list of the very few man Thea had truly loved. He had always had this way of making her feel safe, and the sensation of his strong arms locked around her felt almost too real when he put a warm hand on her shoulder to greet her.

"Norman," she breathed out, "I didn't expect to see you here!" she said, dodging his first question. "How are you doing?"

"Good," he seemed to hesitate, but quickly recovered. "Good," he repeated, as if he was trying to convince himself. "What about you, where have you been?"

"Here and there," she replied with a vague wave of her hand.

A sudden pain in her stomach made her wince. She was remembering how things ended with Norman. Or, more accurately, how they didn't. A rush of guilt made her blush, especially seeing how cordial Norman was acting now.

Misinterpreting her red cheeks, Norman moved closer to her and lifted the corner of his lips- the equivalent of a smile for him-.

"You look stunning, Thea. Time has been kind to you."

His words acted like an electroshock. She suddenly realised that one person was missing from the conversation. "Oh! Have you met Peter?"

Norman blinked a couple times, reluctantly took his eyes off the young woman and finally noticed Peter, whom Thea had dragged next to her.

"No, I haven't," he simply replied, his brow lightly furrowing. "Nice to meet you Peter," he continued while vigorously shaking the young man's hand. "Do you two work together now?"

"Husband," Peter almost screamed at Norman, causing Thea to jump and the people around them to stare at them. Again. "I'm her husband. She's my wife. We're together," he burst out while putting an arm around a very uncomfortable Thea.

"I see," the laconic man said, glancing at Thea with an inquisitive look. The both of them exchange an amused and knowing glance that Peter couldn't help but notice.

"Let's have a drink, shall we?" the young mutant said with a forced smile, pulling Thea toward the buffet. "Nice to meet you, Norman."

The latter narrowed his eyes and watched them walk away.

"I thought you wanted to meet him?" Thea asked with a perfidious tone, as she removed her elbow from Peter's grab.

"Yeah, well I didn't expect him to be Mister MacHandsome now did I? Besides, we're supposed to blend in with the guests, not flirt with them," he added, bitter.

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?" Thea furiously whispered, trying her best not to yell at her friend.

"Please. You know exactly what I mean. I don't need to read minds to see that whatever you two had was real, and it probably still is."

Thea took a step back, hurt by Peter's words. How could he jump to conclusions so fast? Did he not know her at all, even after all this time? Warm tears began to blurry her vision. Refusing to give in, she inhaled loudly.

"For God's sake Peter, remember why we are here and stop acting like a child."

He glared at her but didn't reply.

"What happened between you two anyway?" he mumbled, picking up a glass of champagne.

"Pardon me if I'm not in a sharing mood, right now," she gritted.

He absently sipped on his champagne.

"Fine," he eventually said with a blank stare, before slowly walking away.

"Peter…"

"I'm going to look around, see if I can find anything useful. You keep mingling with the others. You're better at that than I am."

Thea sighed as the silver-haired mutant disappeared into the crowd. This was going to be a long night.


End file.
